John,

In the past few months, states have quietly started requiring people to submit to face scans when applying for unemployment benefits.¹

Forcing people to give their personal, biometric information is wrong. Sign the petition and tell state legislators to stop using face scans on unemployed people.

SIGN NOW

Already there have been a number of issues with ID.me, the tool that states are using to “verify” identity for unemployment benefits:

• It doesn’t work. For a variety of reasons (including the fact that facial recognition tech misidentifies people of color and women) people are having issues with the tech. And the staff at unemployment offices can’t help them, so people are forced to go without their unemployment.²

• It’s susceptible to fraud. ID.me was supposed to reduce fraud, but it’s actually causing a bunch of it, including cases where bad actors are making 3D printed masks to try to impersonate people to access their unemployment benefits.^3,4

• It’s causing delays: The system is having long delays, which can cause huge problems for people who need this money to pay for housing, healthcare, childcare, food, and more.⁵

But even if the system worked perfectly, accessing unemployment benefits should not be contingent on giving up your right to privacy. State governments also shouldn't be using tools that disproportionately harm communities of color, and require people to have smart phones (which excludes low income and senior communities).

Tell state legislators: stop using ID.me or any other facial recognition technology as a requirement for receiving unemployment benefits.

Together,

Caitlin at Fight for the Future

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Footnotes:

1. One Zero: https://onezero.medium.com/21-states-are-now-vetting-unemployment-claims-with-a-risky-facial-recognition-system-85c9ad882b60

2. CBS Local: https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/04/12/unemployment-id-me-verification-colorado-stuck-claims/

3. ABC 11: https://abc11.com/idme-north-carolina-unemployment-scam-fraud/10574631/

4. KTNV: https://www.ktnv.com/13-investigates/unemployed-nevadans-grapple-with-more-troubles-id-me-verification-suffers-fraud-impersonators

5. ABC 11: https://abc11.com/idme-unemployment-id-me-my/10498998/

 

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