90-day suspension comes after 300,000 Portuguese have already ‘sold’ their biometric data
Portugal’s data regulator has ordered Sam Altman’s iris-scanning project Worldcoin to stop collecting biometric data for 90 days in the latest regulatory blow to a venture that has raised privacy concerns in multiple countries.
Expresso reported on this new ‘fad’ to hit various ‘public spots’ in Lisbon recently.
Worldcoin encourages people to have their irises scanned by “orb” devices, in exchange for a digital ID and around €70 worth of ‘free’ cryptocurrency.
More than 4.5 million people in 120 countries have signed up, according to Worldcoin’s website – more than 300,000 of them in Portugal.
But today the national commission for data protection (CNPD) has ruled there is a high risk to citizens’ data rights in this process. As Expresso discovered, a number of people queuing to have their irises scanned in February had no idea how their biometric data was going to be used.
Worse, although Worldcoin has assured that it does not allow minors to take part in this ‘project’, “dozens of complaints” to CNPD suggest this has most certainly been happening. The complaints have highlighted not only “deficiencies in the information provided to data subjects” but “the impossibility of erasing data or withdrawing consent” after the scans have been performed.
Jannick Preiwisch, data protection officer at the Worldcoin Foundation insists Worldcoin is “fully compliant with all laws and regulations governing the collection and transfer of biometric data”.
“The report from CNPD is the first time we are hearing from them regarding many of these matters, including reports of underage sign-ups in Portugal, for which we have zero tolerance and are working to address in all instances, even if a matter of a few reports,” she said in an emailed statement.
Worldcoin also said that the company has began a transition to “Personal Custody” which will give users control over their data – including the ability to delete it and/ or forbid its future use.
For now CNPD’s suspension is seen as temporary while it carries out additional due diligence and analyses complaints received
What is this all about?
Worldcoin claims to be building an “identity and financial network”, which Altman (one of the leading figures in the AI boom) says will be necessary for people to prove that they are human in a world dominated by artificial intelligence.
Altman is the CEO of OpenAI as well as co-founder of the company behind Worldcoin.
Worldcoin is already under investigation in various countries and has drawn criticism from privacy campaigners over its collection of personal data.
UK privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch warns there is a risk that the company’s biometric data could be hacked or exploited, with senior advocacy officer Madeleine Stone adding that digital ID systems “rarely live up to the extraordinary benefits technocrats tend to attribute to them”.
Spain’s data protection regulator issued a three-month ban on Worldcoin, in response to complaints, earlier this month. Kenya suspended Worldcoin’s activities in August, reports Reuters.
The Bavarian State regulator has said it is the lead authority investigating Worldcoin under the European Union’s data protection rules because Tools For Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, has a German subsidiary there.
The CNPD’s suspension refers to the Worldcoin Foundation – a Cayman Islands entity described on its website as “memberless”, having no owners or shareholders. The Worldcoin Foundation’s website says it is the only member and director of a British Virgin Islands company called World Assets Ltd, which is responsible for issuing the Worldcoin tokens allocated to people who sign up.
The CNPD said that its decision was addressed to the Worldcoin Foundation because that entity is the data controller for the biometric data.
Worldcoin is backed by some of the most prominent venture capital names, including a16z crypto and Bain Capital Crypto, adds Reuters’ report today.
