Days after
the UK’s data regulator disclosed plans to inquire about Worldcoin,
France’s privacy watchdog today (Friday) also confirmed that it is investigating the
project. Worldcoin, a project created by Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, requires
users to scan their irises in exchange for digital currencies and free
cryptocurrency.
The
project’s token, the Worldcoin (WLD), went live on Binance on Monday, listing against
Bitcoin and Tether, Finance Magnates reported. The token was created
by Tools for Humanity, a company based in San Francisco and Berlin.
The firm creates for users an account
dubbed World ID after their identities are registered using an orb-shaped scanner. Furthermore, Worldcoin, which recently raised $115 million
from a funding round, plans to develop the World App, a digital
wallet for the token’s ecosystem to facilitate payments,
purchases, and funds transfers.
However,
the project, which has attracted over 2 million users across 20 countries, has
raised concerns about user data privacy. The French National Commission on
Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) said the project’s data collection method ‘seems
questionable’, according to Reuters. The privacy supervisor is also concerned about how
biometric data collected for users are stored.
Additionally, CNIL told
Reuters that it has started an investigation into the matter and already found that
the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision in Germany has been
examining the project. Moreover, CNIL has been supporting the Bavarian state
authority in its probe.
Earlier,
the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in its
reaction to the launch of the project emphasised that companies collecting personal
data must do so with permission from their users while adhering to the law. Additionally, the
British data maintained that users must have the freedom to opt out of such
agreements.
Meanwhile, Alex
Blania, the Co-Founder of Worldcoin, earlier
justified the biometrics project, noting that the company’s World IDs were
important in differentiating humans from AI bots since only humans can get the digital
identity. Blania claimed that data privacy is guaranteed by the project through the use of
blockchain technology, Reuters earlier reported.
Also weighing in on the project, Vitalik Buterin, the Co-Founder of Ethereum , in a recent blog post noted that while Worldcoin is
unique as it relies on sophisticated biometrics, there are still some
challenges related to the technology, including the possibility of users’ data being leaked on the
internet and breach of privacy.
Days after
the UK’s data regulator disclosed plans to inquire about Worldcoin,
France’s privacy watchdog today (Friday) also confirmed that it is investigating the
project. Worldcoin, a project created by Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, requires
users to scan their irises in exchange for digital currencies and free
cryptocurrency.
The
project’s token, the Worldcoin (WLD), went live on Binance on Monday, listing against
Bitcoin and Tether, Finance Magnates reported. The token was created
by Tools for Humanity, a company based in San Francisco and Berlin.
The firm creates for users an account
dubbed World ID after their identities are registered using an orb-shaped scanner. Furthermore, Worldcoin, which recently raised $115 million
from a funding round, plans to develop the World App, a digital
wallet for the token’s ecosystem to facilitate payments,
purchases, and funds transfers.
However,
the project, which has attracted over 2 million users across 20 countries, has
raised concerns about user data privacy. The French National Commission on
Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) said the project’s data collection method ‘seems
questionable’, according to Reuters. The privacy supervisor is also concerned about how
biometric data collected for users are stored.
Additionally, CNIL told
Reuters that it has started an investigation into the matter and already found that
the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision in Germany has been
examining the project. Moreover, CNIL has been supporting the Bavarian state
authority in its probe.
Earlier,
the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in its
reaction to the launch of the project emphasised that companies collecting personal
data must do so with permission from their users while adhering to the law. Additionally, the
British data maintained that users must have the freedom to opt out of such
agreements.
Meanwhile, Alex
Blania, the Co-Founder of Worldcoin, earlier
justified the biometrics project, noting that the company’s World IDs were
important in differentiating humans from AI bots since only humans can get the digital
identity. Blania claimed that data privacy is guaranteed by the project through the use of
blockchain technology, Reuters earlier reported.
Also weighing in on the project, Vitalik Buterin, the Co-Founder of Ethereum , in a recent blog post noted that while Worldcoin is
unique as it relies on sophisticated biometrics, there are still some
challenges related to the technology, including the possibility of users’ data being leaked on the
internet and breach of privacy.
