The National Data Protection Commission announced this Tuesday the suspension of the collection of iris biometric data for 90 days. The objective is to safeguard the right to data protection, at a time when more than 300 thousand people have already joined Worldcoin (in Portugal).
The measure takes place at a time when the company is in the city of Guarda, in the La Vie shopping center, where nearly 500 people have already had their iris read.
For those who don’t know yet, the collection of biometric data is a procedure carried out using a camera that, as the name suggests, takes a photograph of the circular part of the human eye and, in return, the user receives “worldcoins ”, that is, virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies, which you can then exchange for the current currency – the euro.
The subject has generated a lot of controversy with experts pointing the finger at this process because of data protection. The promoters guarantee that there is no problem, but just in case it is advisable to obtain all the information on the subject. In some countries, like Spain, for example, this iris reading has already been banned. The procedure arrived in Guarda less than two weeks ago and hundreds of people have already gone to the stand set up in the La Vie shopping center to join. One of Worldcoin’s collaborators in Guarda, Betânia Lopes, told OINTERIOR that it is a “digital wallet, like “bitcoin”, for example. The proposal from the founder of Worldcoin – the same creator of the GPT website – is to make this currency global».
When interested parties go to the Worldcoin space, employees ask “the person to download the application on their cell phone. As soon as you download, you receive ten coins that are available for withdrawal 24 hours later. And in 24 hours you also receive three more coins and every two weeks you receive three more», specified the employee. On that day, last Thursday, the “worldcoin” was valued “at 7.60 euros”, added Betânia Lopes.
When asked about the procedure used to join, the employee guarantees that «the iris reading is nothing more than biometrics. The iris is converted into a code». And it will only be used for each person, always of legal age, to “register once”. In just over a week, “more than 400 people” had already visited the Worldcoin space in La Vie and there was still no date for the company to leave Guarda. The employee who spoke to O INTERIOR revealed that «the contract is open-ended, so in a year, two or even five years we can be here». During O INTERIOR’s presence in the technology company space, there were those who joined this digital wallet, but declined to make any statements. Worldcoin was created by the founder of artificial intelligence ChatGPT, which belongs to the company OpenAI, of which one of the owners is Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, Space X and Twitter (now called X).
The promoters’ objective is to “build the largest financial and identity network in the world”, in a project managed by Tools for Humanity and co-founded by Alex Blania and Sam Altman, creator of OpenaAI and responsible for the famous ChatGPT. In 2022, Portugal was the European country chosen to test the beta version, which promises to revolutionize the world of technology and cryptocurrencies. The American startup, based in the United States and Germany, aims to create a global digital identity using biometric data, namely each user’s iris. In other words, it is a way of distinguishing between humans and Artificial Intelligence “bots”, since the iris is exclusive to each human being. The project’s digital identity is known as “World ID” and will function as a “digital passport”.
DecoProteste warns of “loss of control over data”
Even before the Data Protection Commission decided to suspend the collection of biometric data, DecoProtest had already spoken out and warned that «the biggest risk that exists is the loss of control over the data granted».
As Worldcoin «does not reveal whether and how it deletes the data after it has been collected, the holders of personal data are at the mercy of anything it may do with them». In other words, «if the iris images are sold to third parties, they could even end up in criminal hands, allowing, for example, access to banking data or health services» in the future. In Europe, data protection agencies in countries such as France and the United Kingdom have received complaints about the risks that users run when handing over their biometric data. The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) is investigating the Worldcoin action in the country and has already banned the company’s collection of iris images.
Worldcoin has already spoken out and says it is “in compliance with the laws”
After the collection of biometric data was suspended for 90 days in Portugal, the WorldCoin Foundation spoke out and said that the system is “in full compliance with all laws and regulations that govern the collection and transfer of biometric data, including the General Regulation of European Data Protection”, explained the company’s Data Protection Officer, Jannick Preiwisch.
The suspension of iris scanning comes after «large dozens of reports» received at the CNPD in the last month, reporting the collection of data from minors without the authorization of their parents or other legal representatives.
Sofia Pereira
