A hot potato: Sam Altman might be dominating the artificial intelligence industry as CEO of OpenAI, but his iris-scanning crypto experiment isn't finding the same level of success: Worldcoin has just been banned in Spain over privacy concerns due to the collection of biometric data.
Worldcoin's system uses orbs, which bring to mind The Lord of the Rings' Palantír crystal balls, packed with iris-scanning technology to establish an individual's identity. The company says they're designed to tell the difference between humans and robots, something that is becoming more difficult in the age of advanced AI. It then creates a digital World ID that can be used pseudonymously in a wide variety of everyday applications, purportedly without revealing the person's identity. Once a person's identity has been established, users can receive free Worldcoin crypto tokens.
Unsurprisingly, the scanning of people's eyeballs has led to privacy concerns. Now, Spanish data protection regulator AEPD has demanded Worldcoin temporarily stop collecting and processing personal data. It must also stop processing any previously collected data from Spain.
Spain is using the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) "urgency procedure" for its cessation order, meaning it can only last for three months.
TechCrunch notes that violations of GDPR rules can result in fines of 4% of offending entities' annual turnover. The law can also be used to stop data processing when situations entail high risks for people's rights, such as the processing of biometric data.
The AEPD writes in its announcement that the agency has received several complaints about Worldcoin related to the amount of information it collects, the collection of data from minors, and the withdrawal of consent not being allowed.
Worldcoin responded to news of the ban by claiming the AEPD was "circumventing EU law" and "spreading inaccurate and misleading claims about our technology." Jannick Preiwisch, Worldcoin's Data Protection Officer, said in a statement that efforts to engage with AEPD had gone unanswered for months.
"We are grateful to now have the opportunity to help them better understand the important facts regarding this essential and lawful technology," Preiwisch said, via Reuters.
Worldcoin was temporarily banned in Kenya in 2023 over privacy concerns, though it is reportedly set to return at some point.
World ID has over 4 million sign-ups in 120 countries. According to Worldcoin.org's website, the eyeball-scanning orbs are currently available in nine countries: The US, Mexico Germany, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, Japan, and Singapore.
https://www.techspot.com/news/102167-sam-altman-iris-scanning-worldcoin-crypto-project-has.html
