Washington state is getting ready to roll out the ID.me facial recognition system dropped by the IRS last month over privacy and equity concerns.
Human rights activists and some federal lawmakers are asking state government officials, including in Washington, to ban the system. Amid the outcry, Washington’s Employment Security Department says it doesn’t use ID.me to verify the identities of people claiming jobless benefits — but plans to start doing so in June.
“Recently, we launched a competitive procurement process to secure a tool claimants would use to verify their identity before applying for benefits,” said Nick Demerice, director of public affairs. ID.me, Demerice said, was the winning vendor.
WA state to use controversial ID.me
The IRS backed off a plan to require taxpayers to record a video of their faces to access records. Now, Washington is rolling out the tech for its unemployment system.
www.seattletimes.com
I don't know if any of ya'll knew about this but when I heard about it, it freaked me out. This is Chinese-level infiltration and I am glad enough people were pissed about it. We need to make sure that tech is never used against us. It already is in many areas but if they get to a point where they are publically tracking us without shame, it is going to be a problem. I love the concept of crypto but this is one of the reasons why I always say we need to keep the physical dollar alive.