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.
Republicans and Democrats alike worried that any security compromise or computer hack could put users at risk in a way mere passwords can’t while allowing the government another tool to track ordinary citizens. Some also said the technology was less accurate for dark-skinned people and worried that systems for correcting such errors may not be responsive enough. After all, the IRS already is notoriously bad about assisting customers with questions and problems.
Even the federal government’s General Services Administration has concluded that face-scanning technology is too uncertain to justify its use.
As of Feb. 7, those concerns have been allayed. The IRS will not implement the system this summer after all. “The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” said IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig.
So far, so good, but that’s not to say the IRS isn’t still a hot mess that will require both congressional reform and management improvements in order to serve taxpayers better without abusing them.
