Kenya Questions Worldcoin’s Privacy Measures

Kenyan authorities are actively studying the cryptocurrency Worldcoin initiative, and its CEO Alex Blania was recently questioned in a special sitting of parliament. The main difficulties are related to privacy concerns with Worldcoin’s activities.

Privacy Concerns Raised by Lawmakers

Kenyan legislators have voiced concerns about Worldcoin’s presence there. The project’s admission was compared by one lawmaker to “a gang of criminals who are coming to harvest data from young people.” These issues are caused by the procedures Worldcoin employs to confirm users’ identities.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, created Worldcoin with the intention of building a network of users that can be validated as being real people rather than bots or AI programs. Users who want to enlist have their eyes scanned with specialized orbs. However, this collecting of biometric data has alarmed privacy campaigners and policymakers everywhere.

Scrutiny Beyond Kenya

The interior ministry of Kenya temporarily halted Worldcoin’s activities there. A 15-member parliamentary committee was then established to look at the idea. Additionally, European authorities are also concerned about Worldcoin’s legitimacy. The National Commission on Informatics and Liberty in France and the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision in Germany are both evaluating whether the initiative complies with data protection laws.

The initiative, according to Worldcoin and its backer Tools for Humanity, is committed to upholding user privacy. Blania stressed during the most recent meeting that “Worldcoin is designed to be privacy-preserving” and that this tenet is essential to the protocol’s architecture.

The principal legal officer of Tools for Humanity, Thomas Scott, reaffirmed that Worldcoin was not engaged in illegal data gathering in Kenya. He made a comparison to other major international internet firms, saying, “Just like Facebook, just like Uber, we are available in Kenya, but we are not doing business here.”

Success in Argentina

Argentina has been a success for Worldcoin while experiencing criticism in other countries. The project declared a noteworthy accomplishment in August, when a spike in demand for World ID led to a record-breaking 9,500 people participating in Orb verifications in a single day.

Alex Blania acknowledged Argentina’s passion for cryptocurrency and said, “Argentina specifically is one of the most crypto-forward countries in the world.” This success in Argentina contrasts with the privacy concerns raised by officials in Kenya and Europe, illustrating the varied reception of Worldcoin in various geographic areas.