- Worldcoin’s biometric data collection raises concerns and faces legal scrutiny by privacy regulators.
- Users are providing iris scans for 25 free Worldcoin tokens, attracting millions globally.
- France’s CNIL initiates investigations, and Bavarian state authority takes jurisdiction, scrutinizing Worldcoin’s practices.
As per reports from Reuters, France’s privacy regulators claims that the Worldcoin project, founded by Sam Altman, features “questionable legalities” regarding biometric data collection.
As a part of Worldcoin’s launch which happened on Monday, the platform requires users to scan their iris to access a digital ID to avoid any bots. The face scans are supported by shiny spherical “orbs,” which are spread across different locations including Britain, Japan, and India, by the Worldcoin team.
Looking past concerns about privacy, users are giving away their data in the hopes of 25 free Worldcoin tokens the company has promised verified users. At the time of writing, the website indicates that over 2.1 million from 120 countries have joined the trial over the last two years.
Naturally, data regulators are enraged by Worldcoin’s data collection strategy including U.S. privacy campaigner Electronic Privacy Information Center who called it a “potential privacy nightmare.” Simultaneously, a spokesperson for the UK Information Commissioner’s Office shared that they have noted the launch of WorldCoin in the country and “will be conducting further inquiries.” France’s CNIL added:
The legality of this collection seems questionable, as do the conditions for storing biometric data.
Furthermore, in its email response to Reuters, the CNIL stated that it had initiated investigations, leading to the discovery that the Bavarian state authority in Germany holds jurisdiction over the matter. Subsequently, the Bavarian authority has been conducting the investigation with support from the CNIL, the watchdog added.
According to CoinMarketCap, WLD is currently ranked in the 124th position based on its market capitalization. The native token of the WLD network has a circulating supply of 107,420,321 WLD, with a total supply of 10,000,000,000 tokens.
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