The US government will let you use facial recognition to access services online – but don’t worry, your data is safe
The US General Services Administration (GSA) has announced an expansion to its Login.gov platform that could use biometric scanning for the first time and increase user security
This expansion introduces new identity verification options to provide users with seamless access to government benefits while keeping them and their data safe.
By offering facial recognition and digital identity verification, users can now verify their identity and access their services using their face.
Reduce fraud with your face
This latest login path will be released next year and will provide a high level of confidence in identity verification, aligned with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-63-3 IAL2 guidelines.
You can also expect a high level of security for your data. As a government service, any information used by Login.gov to authenticate your identity, or any other service, cannot be sold or used for other unrelated purposes.
Facial recognition is already used by Login.gov through the low-tech method of in-person verification at a participating US Postal Service branch with a Postal Service employee. Because more than 99% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a post office, this method has helped strengthen fraud prevention.
According to the GSA Blogthe facial recognition technology used by Login.gov will:
- Always protect user information by ensuring it is never used for any purpose unrelated to verifying your identity by Login.gov or other vendors with whom we contract.
- Leverage the best facial recognition algorithms that, based on testing in controlled environments, have proven high accuracy and reduced algorithmic bias.
- Use a privacy-preserving matching approach where ‘selfies’ are matched only to the user’s photo ID, and the image is not used for any other purpose.
- Continue investing in academic-quality research, such as GSA’s Remote ID research, to measure all aspects of Login.gov performance, including algorithmic biases on demographic factors.