ID.me is a shining example of why Agile is not a valid software development methodology. It is also a shining example of Elon Musk and DOGE’s limitless incompetence. One should expect nothing less from someone who not only builds the ugliest vehicle ever made in any country, he also makes it so poorly body parts fall off.
These imbeciles want you to use a “smart” phone app to control access to your irs.gov account. Oh, not just access, to do things like request a PIN and every other thing you can do on the irs.gov website. Real System Architects and real Software Engineers would have shot this idea (and possibly the person uttering it) before the sentence was finished. Yes, I have written about Agile many times. I’ve even written a book on Agile. Most of you shrug because you don’t know enough to be scared.
Ask yourself this question: Just how bullet proof is a vehicle when the body parts fall off going down the road?
Engineering = Do it Right the First Time
Agile = just keep hacking at it until the money runs out.
With Agile you get to recall each and every one you make. That, of course, assumes nobody died.
Why Real Engineers Would Shoot the Idea Down
- an iMbecile phone is the most insecure device ever made
- Pegasus is a commercial spyware product developed by an Israeli company. It installs via a single missed call and basically owns the phone. It can harvest the data of most (if not all) apps on the phone. Gee! With your real IRS PIN and account information, they can file a fake tax return and don’t have coming. Pegasus was supposed to be for a limited set of friendly countries. Saudi Arabia has it, therefore, it’s gone global. This now means Vladimir Putin thanks DOGE for helping fund the war in Ukraine and North Korea thanks DOGE for helping to fund its nuclear weapons program.
- The IRS already had a secure login. Journey to login.gov. That’s where one needs to have a login to make estimated tax payments. This was supposed to be the central login for all Internet accessible government sites and services. Only one place to secure and only one system to monitor for bad actors. Wow! Real engineering! What a concept.
- Despite what kids not old enough to shave believe; a massive segment of the population does not now, nor will it ever have an iMbecile phone. A not insignificant number of U.S. taxpayers have nothing but a land line.
- Little snot-nosed tariff boy and incompetent Musk closed most/many of the physical IRS offices. Those that weren’t closed have almost nobody working there. There is no way for a land line only tax paying citizen to obtain a PIN. The PIN goes on your tax returns, well, really anything you send to the IRS once you have one. That little PIN proves it is really you and not Vladimir Putin.
Why You Care
ID.me does not work
They want you to scan in your driver’s license and social security card then upload. You are then supposed to take a selfie, possibly holding both documents, and upload that. Then, oooh, aaaah, AI will evaluate the documents. Woollaaa! Every North Korean hacker with a stolen identity can now be a U.S. citizen controlling the PIN for that SSN.
REAL ID was supposed to solve these problems.
All of the background checking and physical stuff one had to present to get their first REAL ID was supposed to end the need for all this shit. Your face and the REAL ID. That was it. The barcode on the back was supposed to instantly allow the U.S. government to check the validity of the REAL ID. This was the one big beautiful database.
Anyone who knows anything about identity validation knows that. Period. Mic drop.
The kids not old enough to shave, creating ID.me do not.
ID.me AI is wigged out on mushrooms
I probably should have gotten my state ID, but I didn’t want to go back into the house. My driver’s license was in my wallet. A tiny corner of it is busted off from molding itself to my ass cheek, but not a corner you need. ID.me totally gagged on it. Said it looked voided.
You have the barcode from the back fool!
This was after I had to wait roughly 18 minutes while the AI quietly took a shit in the corner of a server room. So, my next option was my passport. No countdown this time.
Oh, the bugs don’t stop there
If you click “Save & Exit” (because you sure as Hell don’t want to click “Start Over”) you will be sent an email within a few minutes. Wow! They got to that fast!
If you click on the button you go through the serious hassle of logging in again, you will land right back at this screen.
I kid you not. If once again you click “Save & Exit” because nobody wants to start over, you will once again receive that email. Note the wording above. You have to keep your passport, driver’s license, and social security card laying out in the open so you can hold them up in front of a Webcam at a moment’s notice.
Should you choose to ignore the oh-so-helpful Action Required email, you will get another one in about an hour.
Summary
Only from Elon Musk and DOGE could such an insecure steaming pile of excrement shat itself out. True Software Engineering would have never tried to replace a functioning system with a device that cannot be secured.
It has been well over 24 hours and not one of those “Trusted Referees” has reached out for the video conference. I suspect it will never happen. They were laid off in the Musk/Trump blind fool purge.
Meanwhile, I’m sure the kids not old enough to shave who shat this digital travesty into the world didn’t bother to secure the server storing everyone’s driver’s license, passport, and social security card images any better than they tested their shit software.
Vladimir Putin thanks them. Little Rocket Man blesses them. Dictator Xi wishes them many fat children who are trained no better than their parents in Software Engineering, thus ensuring no system they create will ever be secure.
