[pupdogg]

> Why does the IRS even think they need this?

It is very common for the government to use its various arms to institute large data collection efforts in the name of national security. A selfie video of yourself on a modern day phone provides for the government a high definition facial recognition vector for identification purposes. I'm sure you can imagine all of the use cases of having this critical data.

Personal Story: My wife and I travelled abroad right before COVID in early 2020. On the way back, we didn't interface with any customs agents at the airport. Instead, there was a portable robot that took our pictures and advised us to proceed to exit. I can only imagine which image database it referenced for a perfect match to allow entry (passport, driver's license, social media?, etc). From a security standpoint, I would assume that the matching capability/requirement of such system had to have been best of the best.

[mortehu]

Isn't the bigger story here that you were able to enter a country without a photo ID? Or did you not make the connection that it could simply compare you to the photo on your passport, like a person would do?