October 3, 2023 10:20 a.m.
On Monday, Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana announced that they would introduce bipartisan legislation to combat rising cases of identity fraud from the use of artificial intelligence.
A release said this would be done by allowing the United States Postal Service to offer identity verification and related services to the private sector like they currently do for government agencies.
Wyden said, “Criminals using hacked personal information made it hard enough to verify a person’s identity – now AI deepfakes have added a whole new challenge for the most common verification methods”. Wyden said, “The best way to confirm who someone is, is in-person verification. I am proud to cosponsor this commonsense legislation with Senator Cassidy to enable American businesses to partner with the Post Office to protect their customers from identity thieves.
The release said one of the most secure and reliable forms of identity verification is In-Person Proofing, where individuals present physical credentials that are checked in person by an attendant.
The POST ID Act would:
*Allow, but not require, the USPS to offer identity verification and related services to the private sector, building on its existing capabilities currently available only to government agencies
*Authorize USPS to issue authenticators to verified individuals, such as physical security keys, for use in future interactions
*Authorize USPS to conduct identity proofing at any USPS location, or through its authorized employees at any other location, such as the home of the individual being verified
*Subject to the consent of the individual being verified, allow for enrollment in or creation of digital accounts or systems convenient for the individual, including concurrent enrollment in multiple accounts or systems
*Allow for the creation of a mechanism whereby third parties may sponsor an individual by paying the fees for their verification, and
*Authorize the USPS to charge such fees as necessary to cover the costs of providing these services.
A one page summary of the legislation is linked: https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/post_id_act_one_pager.pdf