(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, January 23, 2022) The IRS clarified that the news was "grossly wrong" when the media said that users of the IRS online tool were required to verify their identity by taking a selfie. The picture shows the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington. (Photo from Getty Images).
Media reports said that starting this summer, taxpayers who want to use IRS online tools will have to verify their identities through selfies and the account of security technology contractor ID.me, but an IRS spokesman clarified the news is "terribly wrong”.
Existing online accounts on the IRS website only require a set of emails and passwords to access data, but the IRS said this method will no longer work this summer.
The IRS move is intended to protect taxpayers from potential identity theft; privacy advocacy groups say this approach violates personal privacy, and ID.me itself has a dark history.
Jackie Singh, director of technology and operations at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a privacy advocacy group, tweeted, "It only makes the problem worse when their data inevitably leak."
Government data estimates that the IRS online service, which requires identity verification starting this summer, was used 60 million times last fiscal year.
An IRS spokesperson did not respond to a CBS News inquiry about how many new ID.me accounts it has, saying only those nationals do not need to upload a selfie or create a new ID.me account when filing their tax refund.
"The IRS reiterates that taxpayers can submit tax information without providing a selfie or verifying information through a third-party company, including debiting a bank account, swiping a card, and without the use of facial recognition technology," the spokesperson said.
However, taxpayers will need to log into the new secure system to view past payments to access child tax credit information.
The IRS has struggled to preserve taxpayer data, even shutting down its online service in 2015 due to identity theft.
"Privacy and data theft are significant events for the IRS, which is terrified of hackers, and improvements are made to optimize the system and ensure data is protected," said Daniel Morris, a California accountant.
However, ID.me is not infallible. A California senator criticized ID.me at the time for "overwhelming thousands of legal applicants," Bloomberg reported.
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, January 23, 2022) When the official opening of the federal free registration line for home testing reagents, the Post Office has also begun to send out the new COVID home testing reagents registered by the public.
(Home COVID-19 test kits. (Photo from Associated Press)
The White House pointed out that this special line number is: 1-800-232-0233; the service time is from 8:00 am to 12:00 midnight EST every day, and the special line also provides services in more than 150 languages; each residential address can only be booked once, a total of four home test kits.
White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients announced the launch of the COVIDtests.gov website on the 18th and shipments on the 20th. He said: "The Postal Service is operating very quickly, and as soon as the test kits arrive, they package and ship them. Tens of millions of testing reagents have been delivered, and this time it is a complete mobilization."
The Biden administration has been criticized for not procuring enough testing kits ahead of the outbreak of the omicron variant, which the White House says will take about 7 to 12 business days to ship.
This time, the recipients of the free test kits are given priority to the "most vulnerable American people", and the top 20% of daily orders are sent to areas with a high Social Vulnerability Index assessed by the federal government.
"We want to make sure these communities come first in many ways and not act as an afterthought, and that's the right direction toward equity," said White House coronavirus adviser Cameron Webb.
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, January 22, 2022) The medical community found that a sore throat is an early symptom of the new COVID. Public health experts have listed more than 20 common symptoms of new coronary pneumonia, but also confused when to go for screening. Experts now suggest one of the symptoms a person might know they might have been hit before they get screened: a sore throat.
The study found that a sore throat is the first symptom that appears after contracting the new COVID. Allison Arwady, MD, chief of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that if you have a sore throat, even if the symptoms are not severe, you should stay home unless you test negative after the event, NBC News reported.
(Photo from Associated Press)
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, January 22, 2022) This wave of Omicron virus is extremely contagious. In the two years since the development of the new coronavirus epidemic, the virus has been constantly changing, but if the policy and the direction of epidemic prevention cannot keep up with the development trend of the epidemic, more resources will be wasted, and the people will be hurt. Expert analysis shows that this wave of Omicron virus is extremely contagious. Many people have begun to buy N95 masks, but they do not know how to use them. Some people also heat and disinfect N95 masks, which is a wrong approach.
Zhang Zhibei, Distinguished Chair Professor of National Taiwan University and Honorary Distinguished Professor of the US Naval Research Institute analyzed that the Omicron variant is extremely contagious. The US government finally confirmed that cloth masks are useless. It is recommended that people wear N95 or KN95. It is a serious mistake to clean or sterilize the hard-to-buy N95 masks like cloth masks.
He analyzed that because washing, disinfection or heating will destroy the three-layer filter and electrostatic adsorption function of the inner layer of the N95 mask, once the function is destroyed, the virus may penetrate through the gap of the filter, otherwise the filter will be blocked. The user may feel that the breathing is smoother by letting the breathing air come in and out from the surrounding area, but in fact, the effectiveness of the mask is destroyed, which is equivalent to not wearing a mask.
Zhang Zhibei analyzed that the correct approach should be to use four or five N95 masks in turn and put them in an open paper bag after using them every day. If there is a virus on the mask, it will lose its activity after one or two days. If you go to a place with a new COVID patient, you will immediately throw it away when you leave. This way, at least one mask can be reused for many days, until it is damp, dirty, or has signs of odor, or when the earring straps become loose and lose their elasticity, and the edge of the mask has a gap before discarding. This is more environmentally friendly and can improve the efficiency of the use of masks.
(Source: World Journal)
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
(We Chinese in America Media Editor Tang Zhao, January 21, 2022) British Prime Minister Johnson (Photo from European News Agency), who was caught in the "Party Gate" storm, opened a party of 100 during the lockdown period and was forced by the party and facing a crisis of stepping down. When he was questioned by lawmakers in Parliament on the 19th, he even said "Hello" in Chinese. "It's nice to meet you", and the audience instantly laughed.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) released a video on Twitter on the 19th. Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, accused Johnson in the House of Commons of the British Parliament that day, saying, "tens of millions of British people are now witnessing that the Prime Minister can't even control himself. The basic rules of epidemic prevention set out. In the current public health crisis, he is no longer suitable to formulate epidemic prevention policies for others." "The best anti-epidemic policy now is to resign himself."
In this regard, after Johnson stood on the podium, he even said "Hello" and "Nice to meet you" to Speaker Lindsay Hoyle in Chinese and said that he did not agree with Davey’s statement and would continue to follow the people's concerns about priority governance.
(Source: Compiled from Online Information)
