Germany and France’s regulators have announced their collaboration aimed at investigating the controversial project Worldcoin. Launched a few days ago, Worldcoin is looking to scan people’s irises in exchange for what its founders are calling a “digital passport.”
Among the project pioneers is Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI. He recently claimed that these digital passports will be important in the future as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow in popularity.
Meanwhile, French regulator CNIL says the collection of people’s biometric data seems questionable. Therefore, with the help of German authorities, the agency will soon launch investigations into Worldcoin.
On Wednesday, a representative of Britain’s Information Commissioner revealed that they would also investigate the crypto project to determine whether it conducted a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) before it started collecting personal information, which they consider “high risk.”
Ethereum Founder’s Take on Worldcoin
Regulators are not the only ones expressing concerns over Worldcoin. At the start of the week, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin claimed that the iris scans being conducted by Worldcoin could expose an individual’s ethnicity, medical conditions, and sex.
The crypto project is using devices known as orbs to conduct iris scans. Despite the regulatory pressure from Germany and France, there are two orbs in the former and one in the latter.
Meanwhile, Altman says there is an increasing demand for orbs worldwide. He claims the stations where orbs are located have witnessed crazy queues over the last few days. However, the latest data suggest that it would take about half a decade to verify 20 million people, which is roughly 0.0024% of the entire population.
Worldcoin Defends Itself Against Critics
While addressing privacy concerns earlier this week, the Worldcoin Foundation said it follows all the relevant laws governing the collection of personal data in the country where its project is available. As per the organization, some of the legal frameworks it complies with include the UK Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation.
The Worldcoin Foundation also revealed that it conducted a thorough DPIA in the United Kingdom with the assistance of a leading law firm. Moreover, it has promised to delete users’ personal data as quickly as possible upon request.
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