1. An identity authentication platform, comprising: a registration module that obtains a photograph of an identity card issued to an individual by an authoritative entity and that obtains a face recognition template and a set of identifying information for authenticating an identity of the individual in response to the photograph of the identity card and that stores the face recognition template and the identifying information in a data store of the identity authentication platform; a sampling module that obtains a real-time photograph of the individual when the individual asserts the identity using the identifying information; and a verifier module that authenticates the identity asserted using the identifying information by comparing the real-time photograph to the face recognition template stored in the data store.