Before obtaining unemployment compensation payments in Pennsylvania, applicants must now establish their identity.
Pennsylvania has engaged ID.me, a McLean, Virginia-based startup, to verify users in order to eliminate bogus claims that have plagued the online unemployment system.
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Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming are among the 27 states that have hired ID.me for unemployment verification since 2020.
“In addition, we now have contracts with two more states. The Epoch Times spoke with Nicholas Michael, a spokesman for ID.me. “The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration are two of our government partners.”
To get unemployment benefits in these states, applicants must submit to a new, more thorough level of verification.
The online authentication process at ID.me starts with a request for permission to access information from the user’s credit profile and other publicly available sources. Users must consent to ID.me obtaining their Social Security number and biometric data shortly after that. Without consent, the user cannot complete the process or obtain unemployment benefits.
ID is explained in the fine print. It is possible for me to acquire facial biometrics and voiceprints.
Users provide a photo of their driver’s license or passport, as well as a recent smartphone “selfie.” A video selfie is utilized in several instances.
According to the agreement, “we utilize these photographs to construct a facial geometry or faceprint that we employ for reasons of identity verification and to prevent the fraudulent creation of numerous accounts in a dishonest manner.”
Users may also be asked to phone ID.me and leave a voice recording, which will be used to produce a voiceprint. “We utilize this voiceprint for identity verification and to prevent fraudulently created ID.me accounts,” the agreement says.
According to the agreement, ID.me keeps a user’s biometric data for up to seven and a half years after they cease using the service. ID.me users can request that their biometric data be deleted, although the firm may refuse in some situations.
The consent agreement states, “ID.me will never share your biometric data with a third party except to safeguard you or others from identity theft.”
The agreement also states that ID.me can share biometric data with clients like the Department of Labor and Industry to process unemployment claims, as well as third-party service providers and “other third parties where permitted by law, to enforce the terms, to comply with legal obligations or applicable, to respond to legal process (such as a subpoena, warrant, or civil discovery request), to respond to legal process (such as a subpoena, warrant, or civil discovery request), to respond to legal process.
The state receives batches of digital files containing the personal information of each person verified by ID.me on a regular basis. A person’s full name, email address, phone number, Social Security number, date of birth, street address, city, state, postal code, gender, and a unique identifier are all contained in the files.
When users engage with ID.me, the corporation records their IP address, town, and time.
