The GSA Equity Study on Remote identity Proofing calls for participants in agreement with criticism of current identity verification methods that fall short of enabling equitable access for everyone.
The survey condemns inadequate identity-proofing technologies across government when accessing services and benefits. The GSA states that government services are failing to verify users and promote bias in civic tech design that impacts user experiences for underserved communities. This makes it impossible for certain groups of people to access the services they need.
Whilst companies are eager to share their technologies, not all prove their worth as solutions to solve government identity-related challenges, verifying the genuine and legitimate human presence over a false entity.
While cybersecurity is a high priority for most governments nowadays, forthcoming with protecting their citizens’ data rights, citizens are still on the receiving end of disappointing attempts to verify their identities.
A open forum for all citizens’ views that hold a social security number (SSN), the survey will seek to understand how different methods to verify identities can improve this issue.
The GSA study conveys that remote identity-based verification should validate a user is who they claim to be by using readily available technologies like smart phones, blockchain and government issued digital documents to make the process secure and friction-less.
Moreover, to test performing identity proofing, participants will need to provide a ‘selfie’ photo as well as their photograph on a government-issued ID.
The survey makes clear that identity challenges including bias can affect people from diverse backgrounds.
The results and statistics from the study are expected to be published with peer-review in 2024.
