Worldcoin to Allow Companies, Governments to Use Its ID System – Kenya Resists
Kenya Resists – Worldcoin Will Allow Companies, Governments to Use Its ID System
Kenya is pumping the brakes on Worldcoin — the eyeball-scanning crypto project launched by OpenAI founder Sam Altman. The Kenyan government has ordered Worldcoin to stop collecting data in the country while it reviews the project for potential privacy and security risks, as reported earlier by Reuters.
Worldcoin is a project that uses your iris to create a unique digital identity, which you can then link to digital currencies managed through the company’s World App. The project launched last week and has had people lining up to get their eyeballs scanned by the shiny, silver orbs Worldcoin has set up in major cities around the globe.
In a press release, the Communications Authority of Kenya says it’s going to evaluate Worldcoin due to a “lack of clarity on the security and storage” of the iris scans it’s collecting as well as the “uncertainty” surrounding the attached cryptocurrency. It also takes issue with Worldcoin offering people incentives to get their irises scanned.
Worldcoin will expand its operations to sign up more users globally and aims to allow other organizations to use its iris-scanning and identity-verifying technology, a senior manager for the company behind the project told Reuters.
Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Worldcoin launched last week, requiring users to give their iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free cryptocurrency as part of plans to create an “identity and financial network.”
In sign-up sites around the world, people have been getting their faces scanned by a shiny spherical “orb”, shrugging off privacy campaigners’ concerns that the biometric data could be misused. Worldcoin says 2.2 million have signed up, mostly during a trial period over the last two years. Data watchdogs in Britain, France and Germany have said they are looking into the project.
Worldcoin raised $115 million from venture capital investors including Blockchain Capital, a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global in a funding round in May.
Rainer Rehak, a researcher on AI and society at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin said that Worldcoin’s use of technology is “irresponsible” and that it is not clear what problems it would solve.
The Defender’s Big Brother NewsWatch brings you the latest headlines related to governments’ abuse of power, including attacks on democracy, civil liberties and use of mass surveillance. The views expressed in the excerpts from other news sources do not necessarily reflect the views of The Defender.
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