Notes from Maine - 2023/12/31
Tomorrow’s my birthday! Not really. My real birthday is months from now, but some of my devices are already starting to wish me a happy birthday. I almost never enter my real birthday on forms except for medical stuff.
A few years ago, I wanted to pay my estimated taxes online. In order to do so, I had to create a login on ID <dot> me. I’m reasonably careful with my personal information (SSN, birthday, driver’s license number, etc.), and the idea of giving that over to an unknown organization irked me. If it was a <dot> gov site, maybe, but what is a <dot> me site? It turns out that <dot> me is the Top Level Domain of Montenegro. So the IRS wants me to create a “secure” login through Montenegro in order to pay my taxes?
No, of course not. Sometimes countries with catchy Top Level Domains, like <dot> me, will sell their web addresses to people who want catchy website names. I did a “whois ID.me” and found out that the site is owned by, “Registry Registrant ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY.” That was less than enlightening. On their own site, ID.me tells me that, “ID.me is an American company, co-founded by former US Army Ranger, Blake Hall, and headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia.”
I also learned that, “By law, only US-based government and public sector organizations are eligible to use a .gov domain. Although ID.me partners with state and federal agencies, it itself is not a government organization.”
I guess this is one of those situations where the government needs a quick solution, it already exists in the private sector, so “we” decide to buy rather than build? I like innovation—I’m all for it. But I also like to control who I share my information with. The stated origin story of ID.me on their website is well written.
“Hall conceived ID.me the day he saw a military veteran display their separation paperwork at a store in order to claim a discount. He thought there had to be a better way to verify identity without exposing unnecessary personal information.”
Who can argue with that? My only problem with this scenario is that the IRS is asking me to put my information in the trust of a private company, and I don’t have insight into the motives of that private company. It may have been founded for the most altruistic reasons, but what if Blake Hall moves on from the company and the new CEO is less committed to not exposing unnecessary personal information?
Just for the record, after I did my research, I created a login and paid my taxes. I like getting riled up about stuff, but my conspiracy theories give way pretty easily to convenience. I also had to communicate with the Navy about my father’s passing, and I needed ID.me to facilitate that conversation as well.
More recently, I wanted to check in on my Social Security benefits. I’m still too young to receive Social Security, but I have several “birthdays” every year so I must be getting close. SSA.gov offers two ways to log in—ID.me and Login.gov. Since I’m now giving out my information to anyone who asks, I submitted all my data to that website too.
It has been a wet, slow (and yet very fast), enjoyable year for me.
This year I got groceries twenty-one times, had the farrier out twelve times, took the dogs to the vet three times, had the horse vet out to the house four times, and I saw the dentist twice and my doctor once. Mom came up for May and again with my sister and nephew in August. I wrote three and a half books, and I left the state twice. Next year I have to finish the kitchen—I’m still limping through that project—and try to publish some of the books that are currently sitting in a drawer.
Hope you had a good year, and I hope that the next one is even better.
