In a rare win for privacy, common sense, and liberty, the IRS this week scrapped plans to make taxpayers use a computerized facial recognition system to access their online accounts.

I wrote here on Jan. 31: “At a time when the IRS already is woefully understaffed and incompetent, the new requirement [would have been] a prescription for disaster.” Although the IRS would not have required facial recognition to file taxes or check the status of tax refunds, it planned to force users to provide facial recognition to check on payment plans, find information about child tax credits, and review their old tax records online.