Spain bans Sam Altman’s eye-scanning Worldcoin technology
Spain has imposed a three-month ban on Worldcoin, prompting a strong response from Sam Altman’s company due to concerns about privacy risks associated with the project’s use of iris scanning for a digital ID and free cryptocurrency.
Spain’s data protection authority AEPD announced on Wednesday that it has demanded Worldcoin immediately stop collecting personal data and stop using the data it has already collected.
Worldcoin said in response to the ban that AEPD is “circumventing EU law” and “spreading inaccurate and misleading claims about our technology”.
AEPD said its action came after several complaints about insufficient information, collection of information from minors or denial of withdrawal of consent.
More than 4 million people in 120 countries have signed up to have their irises scanned with Worldcoin’s “ball” devices, according to its website. However, the project has drawn criticism from privacy campaigners from Argentina to Germany over the collection, storage and use of personal data.
Jannick Preiwisch, Worldcoin’s data protection officer, said in a statement that efforts to cooperate with AEPD have gone unanswered for months.
“We are grateful that we now have the opportunity to help them better understand the important facts about this essential and legal technology,” Preiwisch said.
The Spanish regulator said the processing of biometric data, which has special protections under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), “involves major risks for people’s rights, given their sensitivity”.
It said the urgent measures to temporarily ban Worldcoin were justified “to avoid possible irreparable harm”, adding that failure to act would deprive people of the protection they are entitled to.
According to Preiwisch, Worldcoin has been in contact for months with the information office of the state of Bavaria, where its owner, Tools for Humanity, has a German subsidiary.
As the lead EU authority investigating Worldcoin, Bavaria analyzed documents and carried out on-site inspections for the investigation that started in November 2022.
Its chairman, Michael Will, told Reuters that this “should allow us to present the procedure to our European colleagues very soon with a final assessment”.
Portugal’s data authority said it was in contact with its counterpart in Bavaria as it analyzed whether Worldcoin’s data processing was GDPR-compliant and said it was speaking with companies involved in the project.
A spokesperson for the UK Information Commissioner’s Office said that organizations must carry out a so-called DPIA (Data Protection Impact Assessment) before starting to process data.
They “must have a clear lawful basis for processing personal data. If they rely on consent, it must be freely given and be able to be withdrawn without detriment,” the spokesperson said, adding that the ICO’s investigations are ongoing.
Sam Altman says that with Worldcoin’s token, users can, among other things, prove online that they are human, especially in a future world dominated by artificial intelligence.
Worldcoin is backed by some of the most prominent names in venture capital, including a16z crypto and Bain Capital Crypto.
