Hacker News Reader

Comment by techsupporter | Hacker News Reader

I just wonder what kind of extra hoops we'll have to go through to use an existing login.gov account with the IRS. I read in some article somewhere that the IRS didn't use login.gov because it isn't "as verified" or some kind of thing as the IRS needs.

Yet the reason I have a login.gov account is for my NEXUS enrollment which means I've been fingerprinted, background checked, had my passport number linked, and been interviewed in person by two different governments. That seems pretty identity verified to me.

If I have to go through some other step, especially if it involves yet another biometric or interview check, that's going to be annoying.

View on HN

Those steps were a prerequisite to get your NEXUS enrollment -- not to get a login.gov account.

The only thing you have to do to enroll in login.gov is verify your email address.

And optional feature of login.gov is to verify your identity further by uploading a photo of a state ID, and entering your SSN and phone number. When you validated your identity in person with CBP, this was not that.

> When you validated your identity in person with CBP, this was not that.

This isn't snarking at you directly, just all I'm really hearing is that the government will happily mix whatever it knows about me for its own purposes but when it comes to making things easier for me (wherein they've literally seen me in person and looked over a stack of my identifying documents), no way that's "violating my privacy."

If we are going to have an all-seeing panopticon can't it at least be convenient?

The premise of that sentiment is simply not true. There is no all-seeing panopticon. The government in the US is quite siloed. The federal government is pretty dang siloed itself, and the US is potentially the most siloed government on the planet if we also consider state and local governments.

I think the IRS must already have a pretty good relationship with CBP. A few years ago, the IRS sent me a letter claiming I owed them a large quantity of money. It was a mistake, because my idiot broker messed up the paperwork. (Schwab equity awards. What a disaster.) At about the same time, I applied to renew Global Entry. Nothing happened on the Global Entry application for months, as I worked with a tax expert to correct my tax return. Several months later, I got mail from the IRS saying the case was resolved (they owed me $70, it turned out), and the same day my new Global Entry card arrived.

Maybe it's a coincidence but it seems like the two agencies work together. They also apparently withhold government services if they think you owe them money. Not sure if I think that's amazing, or petty. Leaning towards amazing though.

There’s zero evidence in your anecdote to suggest anything other than a coincidence. You’re basically just arbitrarily choosing to believe it wasn’t.

That's true.

Yes, same here... background checked by two countries! Not to mention iris scanned, and they even passports from two countries for me. Hopefully it's not too onerous, like you said... they can be pretty damned sure who we are at this point.

IRS was trying to remotely validate you to an IAL2 level.

I believe that although you are validated to a higher level with a trusted traveller program, they cannot or have not been able to share that validation with IRS directly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com