New Amazon sellers are required to pass Seller Identity Verification. Apart from the expected documentation, the process uses facial recognition technology. Some are concerned about the privacy issues this raises since sellers are required to provide an identity verification video.
Sellers who decline will not be able to successfully create an Amazon Seller account for the North America (US, Canada and Mexico) Amazon marketplaces. Those who comply will be allowed to list items pending review of their submitted documentation. These listing will not be available to customers, however, until their accounts have been verified by Amazon.
New Amazon sellers are required to pass Seller Identity Verification. Apart from the expected documentation, the process uses facial recognition technology. Some are concerned about the privacy issues this raises since sellers are required to provide an identity verification video.
Sellers who decline will not be able to successfully create an Amazon Seller account for the North America (US, Canada and Mexico) Amazon marketplaces. Those who comply will be allowed to list items pending review of their submitted documentation. These listing will not be available to customers, however, until their accounts have been verified by Amazon.
Seller Identity Verification Documents
Amazon has provided detailed information for sellers on the documents that they must provide for the identity verification process. Below is a summary of the requirements from their guidance page.
Accepted Documents
CURRENTLY VALID NATIONAL ID CARD
primary identification issued by the government of the seller’s country of citizenship or residence. (Must be primary contact or beneficial owner for companies or corporations.)
- If document is not in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, or Spanish, it must come with a copy of the seller’s passport with the bearer’s signature or notarized translation in one of these languages.
CREDIT CARD STATEMENTS, BANK STATEMENTS OR UTILITY BILLS
- currency amounts can be blacked out but document must otherwise remain intact
- must have been issued within the past 90 days
- must not be password protected
- If document is not in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, or Spanish, it must come with a notarized translation in one of these languages.
NOTES:
- document requirements may be different based on seller’s country
- names, addresses and dates of birth as applicable must match the registered Amazon account
- only clear, complete, single colored scanned copies or mobile phone pictures less than 10MB in size will be accepted
- files must be *.png, *.tiff, *.tif, *.jpg, *.jpeg, or *.pdf and must not have any special characters in the file names.
Submission Process
- Go to the Seller Identity Verification page.
- Select country where business is based and click “Next.”
- Enter the information on the form and click submit.
NOTES:
- information on the page cannot be changed after submission
- allow 3 days for review process; sellers will be notified of the result via email
Document Rejection
Any documents that do not meet the criteria above or cannot be verified by Amazon will be rejected. Identity verification rejection is final and cannot be appealed, nor are rejected sellers permitted to reapply.
Identity Verification Concerns
Amazon says that this identity verification process is part of their efforts to create a more secure shopping and selling experience for customers and sellers on the marketplace. Providing the above documentation is acceptable standard procedure. Requiring a video of the seller’s face, however, is not.
This seller verification video is now part of Amazon’s identity verification process, and it has some sellers worried. Amazon does not explain how they are securing the video or where it’s stored, for instance. They do not appear to be addressing privacy concerns at all.
Facial Recognition
Amazon has invested deeply into facial recognition technology. It is indeed a powerful technology that can make many verification processes easier. It does, however, come with serious concerns if the information is not properly secured.
According to a BuzzFeed news report dated February 6, 2019, a seller based in Vietnam reported being prompted to allow Amazon access to his computer’s webcam. This happened in January when the man tried to sign up for a new seller profile. The identity verification page wanted to take a five-second video of his face, saying only that it would be “encrypted and stored for identification purpose.” There was no further explanation as to the actual security measures taken by Amazon.
THE SECURITY IRONY
When contacted for comment, Amazon seller consultants told BuzzFeed News that it appeared that Amazon is testing video as a means to verify seller identities. It is assumed to be a security measure against the creation of multiple seller accounts, an issue that has plagued Amazon over the years.
More accurate seller identification will, of course, help the marketplace to curb the influx of fake sellers, ghost accounts and counterfeit goods. It in no way guarantees it, however. Sellers in China, for instance, have been reported by former Amazon marketplace investigator Chris McCabe to be actively manipulating a huge loophole. These sellers, he says, are able to run multiple seller accounts by paying international students to open Amazon accounts with their information and hand them over to the fraudsters.
But doubts as to the actual usefulness of this addition of video to the verification process is not the most striking problem.
PRIVACY ALERT
The seller in question saw no option on the page to decline to submit a video of his face. This seems odd since the facial recognition component of the account creation process has not been confirmed by Amazon as a new requirement. The seller had no choice but to comply, and was alarmed when later, he could not find the submitted video on his seller profile nor any information on how to remove it.
Amazon declined to explain anything to BuzzFeed News about this type of collection of personally identifiable information. A company spokesperson merely commented that, “Amazon is always innovating to improve the seller experience.” They did not answer any of the questions posed, including:
- when it began asking for video proof of identity
- where it requests such proof
- how the videos are used and stored
- if the videos are processed by Amazon Rekognition, the company’s facial recognition technology
- if a seller can remove their own videos from Amazon’s servers (since it is protected personal information)
- if Amazon has updated the seller agreements and privacy policies to reflect proper handling of biometric data collection and storage.
Rekognition Blowback
Last year, Amazon was heavily criticized for its aggressive pitching of Rekognition to law enforcement agencies beginning in late 2016. The company has not stopped peddling it, however, even after a firm call from researchers who are concerned about the associated surveillance risk.
Widespread Concerns
Amazon does not offer a training program that is strict enough to ease the minds of security experts and advocates. Moreover, concerned parties worry about its abuse since there is as yet no legal or constitutional precedent to guide the use of facial recognition technology. Perhaps the most damaging effect is the possibility for erosion of privacy on a global scale.
Accuracy is another concern, since Amazon claims that it can identify persons even when their faces are not fully in the camera’s view. This could cause, at the very least, great inconvenience for many, and could lead to massive wrongful arrests.
The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, commented that they found 28 incorrect matches by Rekognition. And these were not just random matches. They were done on members of Congress, whose faces are quite a bit more recognizable than the average person on the street. According to Recognition’s results, these 28 members of Congress were positively identified against arrest mugshots. And most of them were people of color.
Final Thoughts
For all we know, Amazon is using or planning to use the required seller identity verification videos outside of the verification process. Since hacking has ever plagued the internet and no server is really safe, the storage of such information is a very serious concern, indeed.
Furthermore, as mentioned above, the addition of face videos to the verification process doesn’t really prevent the worst offenders from continuing their fraudulent activities. It is very highly unlikely that Amazon is not aware of this, so what are they really after?
