In a recent move, Hong Kong’s privacy regulators said that Worldcoin, the iris biometric cryptocurrency startup, had broken the city’s privacy laws. An investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) led to this result.
The PCPD found that Worldcoin’s ways of collecting data were against Hong Kong’s Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. Because of this, the PCPD has ordered that all Worldcoin activities in the area stop.
Worldcoin was co-founded by Sam Altman, who is the CEO of OpenAI. It has been criticized in Hong Kong for how it handles biometric data. In its report, which came out on May 22, the PCPD lists several major breaches. To Ada Chung Lai-ling, the Privacy Commissioner, the collection of face and iris pictures by Worldcoin was “unnecessary and excessive,” and it did not follow the rules in the area.
Hong Kong Privacy Watchdog
In addition, the probe showed that Worldcoin’s ways of collecting data were not open and fair. Privacy warnings and consent forms were not available in Chinese, which made it harder for people to understand what they said. Additionally, Worldcoin did not properly tell participants about their rights to access and change their data. It was also thought to be too long to keep personal information for up to ten years.
The retention period was too long and amounted to prolonged retention of personal data. Ada Chung
Because of these results, the Privacy Commissioner has sent an enforcement warning to Worldcoin telling them to stop all activities in Hong Kong that involve scanning and collecting images of iris and face.
The investigation found that over 8,300 people in Hong Kong had their biometric information scanned in return for WLD tokens, which can be used in the Worldcoin ecosystem. Even with these new details, Worldcoin has not yet made a public comment about the situation.
Worldcoin was started in 2019 by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania. Its goal is to use iris-scanning technology to create a global digital identity platform. The project got $115 million in Series C funding in May 2023. Blockchain Capital led the round, and well-known backers like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global also took part.
