ID.me

ID.me (formerly TroopSwap and Troop ID) is an American online identity network that enables end users to prove their legal identity and attributes of their identity (such as veteran status) via a single login in exchange for discounts from brands and access to sensitive personal information from the federal government.[1][2]

The company is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.[3]

History

The company was originally founded in approximately 2010 as TroopSwap, a daily deals website similar to Groupon and LivingSocial with a focus on the American military community.[4][3] As those sites began to lose popularity, the company was reworked as Troop ID, which provided digital identity verification for military personnel and veterans.[3] Troop ID allows service members and veterans to access online benefits from retailers, such as military discounts, as well as government agencies like the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.[5] It was commended by the White House for providing this service to military personnel.[6]

In 2013, the company rebranded again as ID.me with the goal of providing a ubiquitous secure identity verification network.[4] To that end, they expanded to include verification of credentials for first responders and students, with the intent to add other groups such as American Automobile Association (AAA) and American Association of Retired People (AARP) in the future.[3]

In 2013, ID.me was awarded a two-year grant by the United States Chamber of Commerce to Participate in the President's National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), a pilot project intended to help develop secure digital identification methods.[7] Spike TV and the US Chamber of Commerce named Troop ID The Most Veteran Friendly Small Business in America on June 12, 2013.[8] It was a finalist for The Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year that same year.[9] Entrepreneur listed it as one of their 100 Brilliant Companies in 2014.[10]

As of 2020, the company is now providing identity verification service to the State of Arizona to validate identities for the state's Pandemic unemployment assistance program authorized by Congress which provides unemployment assistance to gig-workers no issued an annual W2 statement.[11] The process consists of taking pictures of artifact documents and uploading them to a users' account repository for validation.

Privacy and security

As part of its identification system, the company collects a range of personal information, including photographs and identification documents.[12] The company verifies information by sending it to a number of "government agencies, telecommunications networks, financial institutions" and other companies which the company trusts and considers reliable.[12] The company treats Internet Protocol addresses and unique device identifiers as non-personally identifiable, and releases them to third parties, along with location, occupation, language, the list of pages browsed at ID.me, and the URLs visited before and after using ID.me.[12]

ID.me is one of three companies, along with USAA and Zentry, certified by the federal government to Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Level of Assurance 3.[13] Nevertheless the company is not responsible for any damages from lost information, and does not guarantee accuracy or security of its service or website.[14] The company and its users agree to arbitration by a specific arbitration company (JAMS) under Delaware laws, or small claims court in northern Virginia.[14] Users agree to organize and pay for legal defense of ID.me and indemnify any losses it suffers, if it is sued by third parties.[14]

Founders

Blake Hall is the co-founder and CEO of ID.me. He was a featured speaker at the White House Summit on Cybersecurity at Stanford University on February 13, 2015.[15] Matthew Thompson was the co-founder and COO of ID.me but left in 2015.

See also

Notes and references
  1. Dead link. Megas, Kat. "Shout It Out Loud: Enhancing Privacy Can Increase Profits!". NIST. National Institute for Standards and Technology. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  2. Overly, Steven. "McLean based ID.me wins contract to provide identity software for Connect.gov". Washington Post. The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  3. Overly, Steven (July 14, 2013). "Tysons Corner-based ID.me expands online identification network". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  4. Gregg, Aaron (March 8, 2017). "This D.C. start-up is taking on some giant tech companies in the race to simplify sign-ons". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  5. Feinstein, Gregory (March 17, 2013). "Military Verification Service, Troop ID, Raises 2.1 Million". TechCrunch.
  6. Bates, Archie (November 16, 2012). "Technology Advances Create Opportunities to Honor Our Troops". WhiteHouse.gov Blog.
  7. "NSTIC, ID.me, Inc". www.nist.gov. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  8. US Chamber of Commerce (June 12, 2013). "Troop ID Wins National Small Business Tournament of Veteran Champions Hosted by Hiring Our Heroes and Spike TV". USChamber.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  9. "About the Startup: ID.me -- WSJ Startup of the Year 2013". www.wsj.com. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  10. Ankeny, Jason. "The Case for Updating the Hiring Process". www.entrepreneur.com. Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  11. https://www.abc15.com/news/state/up-to-300k-arizonans-going-through-new-verification-to-get-unemployment-pua-benefits
  12. "Privacy Policy version 6.0.0". ID.me. 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  13. "Trust Services". ID Management.gov. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  14. "Terms of Service, version 10.0.0". ID.me. 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  15. Rampton, Roberta. "Factbox: White House cybersecurity summit draws big CEO crowd". Reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2015.


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