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Source: Cointelgraph, Amaka NWAOKOCHA
The Hong Kong Personal Information Privacy Commissioner (PCPD) has completed a survey of the WorldCoin project to determine its business in Hong Kong that violates the “Personal Data (Privacy) Regulations” (PDPO).
In the notice on May 22, Zhong Liling, a personal information of privacy, issued a forced execution notice to WorldCoin, ordered to immediately stop all the project operations involved in the use of iris scanning equipment scanning and collecting public iris and facial images in Hong Kong.
PCPD began investigating the WorldCoin project in January 2024 to determine whether the identity verification method constituted a serious risk to the privacy of citizens and violates the requirements of the Personal Data Protection Regulations.
From December 2023 to January 2024, PCPD conducted 10 secret visits on six places involving the operation of the WorldCoin project.
According to PCPD, collecting facial images is unnecessary to verify the authenticity of the participants, because iris scanning equipment operators have been able to conduct this verification in the operating location, making scanning or collecting facial images unnecessary steps.
PCPD also pointed out that WorldCoin failed to provide enough information, which hindered people to make wise decisions and true consent.
The survey shows that WorldCoin’s privacy statement does not have a Chinese version, which means that non -English participants cannot understand the policy, practices, terms and conditions of the project.PCPD means:
“[…] The iris scanning equipment operators at the operating location did not provide any explanations or confirmed the participants’ understanding of the above documents. They did not inform the participants to disclose the risks of biometric data that may exist, nor did they answer their questions.”
In this case, PCPD believes that the collector’s face and iris image are unfair and illegal, which violates its data protection principles.
PCPD ruling, WorldCoin is only used for artificial intelligence model training and retains sensitive biometric data for 10 years, including face and iris image, which is unreasonable.
WorldCoin confirmed that during the operation of Hong Kong, the facial and iris of 8,302 people was scanned for verification.
The project announced in 2021 that more than 2 million people had registered before the project in July 2023.WorldCoin attracted the attention of many national regulatory agencies due to privacy issues, which led to suspension of services in Kenya and suspended iris scan in India.
