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IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

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Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#42
post #21
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main issue is if it's required. Not so worried about myself - I'm a veteran which means my fingerprints and DNA are already on file with the feds somewhere :), but US Citizens with no particular connection to the federal government absolutely shouldn't have to need a "National ID."

And yet, everyone suffers because of it. We have endless SSN breaches because at the end of the day, having a unique ID for people is really valuable! We could have something way safer, but we get stuck with the status quo which satisfies no one.

There are ways to solve that problem whilst still protecting privacy, but there's no benefit in that for the ruling class. Once the infrastructure is in place, we all know governments would eventually use it to track all sorts of additional information/activity about us.

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#43

Is this the same authentication platform that TreasuryDirect uses? edit - looks like no. On the one hand a single sign on to both would have been nice, OTOH TreasuryDirect's authentication system is a PITA.

TreasuryDirect, the site that has case-insensitive passwords, disallows password managers, disallows the use of your actual keyboard to enter your password, and has this dumb on-screen keyboard with tiny keys that ultimately accomplishes nothing? Super trash. It still amuses me how few people, even those who claim security expertise, don't understand that commercial malware is able to hook the driver stack (and or br…

The TreasuryDirect site makes me want to give the authority to the USDS/18F to proactively come in and say we're taking over your public facing website infrastructure to any executive branch agency. There's no excuse for something to look and behave like it hasn't been touched since 1996.

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#44
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main issue is if it's required. Not so worried about myself - I'm a veteran which means my fingerprints and DNA are already on file with the feds somewhere :), but US Citizens with no particular connection to the federal government absolutely shouldn't have to need a "National ID."

A citizen database says who exists and how to contact them. Fingerprint and DNA are a completely different thing, and crazily intrusive to collect on a central location.

Get a job that requires you to get a federal Common Access Card, and you'll get fingerprinted.

DNA is collected on all military members. Ostensibly, they tell you it's to identify your remains if necessary. I'm sure it's used for that also :D

The most intrusive thing they did to me was the polygraph :)

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#45
post #34
post #15

I'm a foreigner (yes, I know, sorry, sorry) who is a "US Person" and thus needs to (and, to be perfectly clear, is happy to, I'm sorry, I'm not-sorry, I'm sorry about being not-sorry?) pay US income tax. The IRS system is, by far, the worst I've ever had to deal with, and in this I'm comparing the US to countries like Rwanda, where, for some weird reason, I'm also required to pay taxes. Getting an ITIN (sort-of like…

Ah yes. Good to know that it’s not just the TSA i should dislike. I’m reminded of the line Logan Roy uses on Succession, something along the lines of “when i arrived in America there was nothing these people couldn’t do. Now they’ve pissed it all away”. Feels like it’ll be hard to see the US continue to be a major player unless it can get out of its own away at some point.

Can you name some countries you think are "major players" if the US isn't or won't be?

>it’s not just the TSA i should dislike.

You should try interacting with Australian or Canadian border forces if you want to see a true organization you should dislike. Hard to see Australia or Canada being even minor players if they can't deal with that dysfunction.

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#46
In Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) allows you you to leverage existing relationships with banks and credit unions, "Sign-in Partners":

* https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/...

* https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/...

* https://verified.me/government-sign-in-by-verified-me/

You can also create a stand-alone account with the CRA if you wish. Other federal agencies use the 'partner' system as well.

It's basically SAML.

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#47
post #6

love that Americans are always worried about some sort of national ID/database of citizens being used for nefarious needs

When it comes down to it the US has a fear driven culture, down to what essentially becomes paranoia. US violent crime statistics are at near all-time lows. Yet I know many, many people that will not leave their house without at least one firearm. This is in small towns that haven't seen a violent crime justifying the use of deadly force in many years. Many of these same people refuse to "live in fear" of the coronav…

> yet they live essentially petrified of violent crime to the point of carrying a deadly weapon for self-defense on their person at all times

That's an odd way of stating it. They're concerned, so they're arming themselves.. but continuing on with their lives. Sounds like the opposite of "petrified" to me.

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#48
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The IRS system is, by far, the worst I've ever had to deal with That's by design

Yes, but WHY? I mean, I'm happy to pay my US taxes. Heck, I'm even happy to pay someone to pay my US taxes. But... neither of those options seem to work? I mean, just to back to Rwanda: it's an east-African country that is pretty much a dictatorship and had a real-life genocide less than 20 years ago. Yet, in Rwanda, I can just use my native cell phone number as my tax identifier, pay then what I need to pay, and be…

At this point the IRS is completely confusing as to understanding whether they've received things. I've seen a non-profit where the IRS was sending them a request for what the letter said was an unfiled annual return, while at the same time, the IRS had the processed annual return they were requesting publicly available on their own website. This is without identifying number confusion. I can't imagine what it would be like with that.

I have to assume that they have some serious database problems that they are completely unable to handle, likely because of staffing and budget cuts that appear to have been intended to cripple them.

Re: IRS to adopt Login.gov as user authentication tool

#50
post #6

love that Americans are always worried about some sort of national ID/database of citizens being used for nefarious needs

So does France, hence the existence there of the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes) [1], formed in 1978, to enforce that.

Because much of Europe has living memory of national registries used for fatal purposes.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_nationale_de_l%27in...

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