At the time of writing this article, according to the data shown in the web project officer, Worldcoin has already scanned the irises in exchange for cryptocurrencies of 4,060,543 people around the world. Some of them (there were 300,000 at the beginning of last February) in Spain.
The figure will continue to rise (it does so every second), but not thanks to Spanish eyes, since the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has ordered one caution contra Tools for Humanity Corporation “to cease the collection and processing of personal data that it is carrying out in Spain within the framework of its Worldcoin project, and proceed to block those already collected.”
The AEPD “has received several complaints once morest this company reporting, among other things, insufficient information, the collection of data from minors or that the withdrawal of consent is not allowed,” they report.
Worldcoin has responded by accusing the AEPD of “circumventing European law” and spreading “inaccurate and misleading statements.”
A network of unique and verified humans
The ideologist of the project is Sam Altman (the mind that was also behind the creation of ChatGPT). As already noted in At the Sea, in a meeting with the media on February 7, 2024, the head of Product, Engineering and Design of Tools for Humanity (which contributed to the launch of Worldcoin and currently advises the homonymous foundation and operates the World App), Tiago Sada, He assured that the challenge is to create “a network of unique and verified humans, who are part of a complete Internet economy, which is not governed by a company.” The ultimate goal is for this network “to be used by humans around the world to identify themselves,” he explained.
For Sada, the most complicated thing when Altman imagined the project was knowing who a real person is: “Verifying the phone, email or official documents does not work and you would have to know the data of all the people and save them. Neither does the fingerprint, because you make a small cut and you are a new person. What makes us different is the biometric part.”
The problem was that “most devices save all your data, so they had to build something different.” Then they developed the Orb, the device with which they scan people’s irises.
Cryptocurrencies in exchange for scanning the iris
One of the most controversial aspects is the fact that they grant 20 euros in cryptocurrencies to all people who allow their iris to be scanned. The Product Manager indicates that they offer this reward because “there has to be a network and a cryptocurrency that everyone can be part of. And you can delete the app and delete your registration at any time.”
According to Sada, it is “like when PayPal gift 20 euros, the Uber Eats makes your first delivery free. They also run the risk of you not coming back. The company is betting big on this, because it knows that it is such a good product that it can afford it.”
“Avoid potentially irreparable damage”
The AEPD explains that “the processing of biometric data, considered in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as of special protection, it entails high risks for people’s rights, taking into account their sensitive nature. Consequently, this precautionary measure is a decision based on exceptional circumstances, in which it is necessary and proportionate to adopt provisional measures aimed at the immediate cessation of this processing of personal data, preventing its possible transfer to third parties and safeguarding the fundamental right to personal data protection”.
This action of the Agency is carried out within the framework of the procedure established in article 66.1 of the GDPR which establishes that, in exceptional circumstances, “when an interested control authority, in this case the AEPD, considers it urgent to intervene to protect the rights and freedoms of people, it may adopt provisional measures with legal effects in its territory and with a period of validity that may not exceed three months,” they emphasize.
In this context, the AEPD “understands that the adoption of urgent measures of temporary prohibition of activities is justified to avoid potentially irreparable damage and that not taking them would deprive people of the protection to which they are entitled under the RGPD.”
«An essential and legal technology»
Tools for Humanity has responded to the injunction. In the words of Jannick Preiwisch, the company’s data protection officer, “World ID was created to give people access, privacy and protection online. “It is the most secure and privacy-preserving solution to confirm humanity in the age of artificial intelligence.”
For months, he continues, “we have collaborated with the Bavarian Data Protection Authority (BayLDA), which is the main supervisory authority, according to the GDPR, to Worldcoin Foundation y Tools for Humanity. The AEPD is circumventing EU law with its actions, which are limited to Spain and not the EU as a whole, and spreading inaccurate and misleading claims regarding our technology. Our efforts to engage with the AEPD and provide them with an accurate view of Worldcoin and World ID have gone unanswered for months. We are grateful to now have the opportunity to help you understand this essential and legal technology. And we will always be willing to engage with regulators, review their comments and answer their questions.”
