- Title: Worldcoin says will allow companies, governments to use its ID system
- Date: 2nd August 2023
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (AUGUST 1, 2023) (REUTERS) SCANNING DEVICE "ORB" READS CODE OFF MOBILE PHONE RICARDO MACIEIRA, WORLDCOIN REGIONAL MANAGER EUROPE, LOOKS INTO LENSE OF ORB "ORB" SCANS
- Embargoed: 16th August 2023 11:27
- Keywords: bitcoin finances iris scanner payment systems privacy
- Location: BERLIN/ GERMANY
- City: BERLIN/ GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Europe,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA001143701082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Worldcoin will expand its operations to sign-up more users globally and aims to allow other organisations 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.
"We are on this mission of building the biggest financial and identity community that we can," said Ricardo Macieira, general manager for Europe at Tools For Humanity, the San Francisco and Berlin-based company behind 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.
Macieira said Worldcoin would continue rolling out operations in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and "all the parts of the world that will accept us."
Worldcoin's website mentions various possible applications, including distinguishing humans from artificial intelligence, enabling "global democratic processes" and showing a "potential path" to universal basic income, although these outcomes are not guaranteed.
"I don’t think we are going to be the ones generating universal basic income. If we can do the infrastructure that allows for governments or other entities to do so we would be very happy," Macieira said.
PRIVACY CONCERNS
Regulators and privacy campaigners have raised concerns about Worldcoin's data collection, including whether users are giving informed consent and whether one company should be responsible for handling the data.
Rainer Rehak, a researcher on AI and society at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin said that it is not clear what problems Worldcoin would solve and how its business model works.
The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision, which has jurisdiction in the European Union because Tools For Humanity has an office there, said it started investigating Worldcoin in November 2022 because of concerns about its large-scale processing of sensitive data.
Michael Will, president of the Bavarian regulator, said it would look into whether Worldcoin's system is "safe and stable".
Addressing privacy concerns, the Worldcoin Foundation, a Cayman Islands-based entity, said in a statement that it complies with all laws governing personal data and will continue to cooperate with governing bodies' requests for information about its privacy and data protection practices.
Worldcoin's website says the project is "completely private" and that the biometric data is either deleted or users can opt to have it stored in encrypted form.
(Production: Leon Malherbe, Martin Schlicht, Nette Noestlinger, Matthias Baehr, Lena Toepler, Elizabeth Howcroft) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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