Worldcoin project under scrutiny in Colombia: details

Worldcoin, the controversial proof-of-personhood project from OpenAI’s Sam Altman, has come under the legal scanner in Colombia. The ambitious project, which aims to provide unique digital IDs to people, has been accused of violating Colombia’s personal data protection laws. This is because Worldcoin collects iris scans of the eyes of those willing to obtain their proof-of-personhood through the project. In the past, Worldcoin has also faced legal hurdles in other countries regarding data collection standards.

Colombia’s Industry and Trade Regulator (SIC) has issued an official statement, marking the first step in a potential criminal prosecution without formally charging the party involved.

“The SIC del Cambio is committed to protecting the fundamental rights of citizens and the community is asked to be cautious. The purpose of the actions is to determine whether the subjects investigated may have violated the Colombian personal data protection regime when collecting sensitive personal data in relation to the implementation of the personal data processing policy and privacy statements, express prior consent,” the SIC statement said.

The SIC posted this statement on its official X account, which has over 235,000 followers.

If Worldcoin is found guilty of violating Colombian laws, it could be permanently shut down in the country. Furthermore, the government plans to impose economic sanctions and temporary restrictions on the project. So far, Worldcoin has not commented on the development and seems to remain committed to the growth of the project.

The project’s official X handle recently posted: “In the age of AI, technologies that prove human existence like World ID are not a luxury, but a necessity.”

On its official website, Worldcoin describes itself as the world’s largest privacy-preserving human identity and financial network. The project claims that by offering World IDs, it eliminates the need for individuals to share personal data with web protocols in order to interact online.

As of Friday, August 23, the Worldcoin project has attracted more than 6.5 million unique users from over 160 countries since its launch 396 days ago, according to its website. In the past seven days alone, more than 92,000 new accounts have logged into Worldcoin’s database. The ecosystem’s native WLD token has been claimed by more than 179 million users, according to its website.

Due to the eye scanning systems, the project has encountered operational obstacles in several countries, including Kenya and Spain.

Despite Worldcoin’s struggles with global regulators, other projects offering similar services are emerging in the Web3 arena. In May this year, decentralized identity solution called Humanity Protocol raised $30 million (roughly Rs. 250 crore) in an investment round, pushing its valuation beyond unicorn status at $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,350 crore).