Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency-based digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is under scrutiny again as German regulators demand compliance with European Union (EU) data protection laws.

The investigation by the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) focused on how Worldcoin's leading technology, World ID, complies with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards, it said Thursday. advertisement.

BayLDA has asked Worldcoin, now renamed World, to implement a GDPR-compliant data deletion protocol no later than January 19.

the General Data Protection Regulation It is a comprehensive European Union law designed to protect the personal data and privacy of individuals, and impose strict rules on how data is collected, processed and stored.

“With today’s decision, we are enforcing European fundamental rights standards in “We are supporting data subjects in a case that requires very complex technology and law,” said Michael Weil, head of BayDLA's state office. “All users who have provided Worldcoin with their iris data will in the future have an unrestricted opportunity to enforce their right to erasure.”

the World ID They are generated through "Orbs" devices, which scan a person's eyeballs to create a unique digital ID designed to verify that individuals are real people and not robots.

However, BayLDA raised concerns about the “fundamental data protection risks” posed by the processing of such sensitive biometric data and its compliance with data protection rights.

Worldcoin has voluntarily suspended some of its operations across the EU during the investigation and has provided updates to improve compliance.

The regulatory body pointed to previous stages of data collection practices in the world, which included storing iris codes in central databases.

These activities were deemed inconsistent with the GDPR, resulting in an order to delete all data collected without sufficient legal basis. The world is now required to secure explicit consent for certain data processing steps.

Despite implementing cryptographic protocols that anonymize data by dividing iris codes into encrypted parts, BayLDA decided that further modifications were necessary.

Worldcoin has already received the German regulator's decision and plans to appeal it, according to the agency's statement.

The world is facing global privacy concerns

Worldcoinwhich launched in 2023, introduced a concept called “verification,” seeking to create a broad network of users who are verified as humans rather than bots or AI algorithms.

However, her vision quickly caught the attention of regulatory bodies around the world.

Countries like Kenya and Portugal have temporarily blocked the project due to privacy concerns.

By October, Worldcoin Transfer done to her new identity as "The Scientist" and unveiled an updated version of the "Orb" iris-scanning device.

These devices, which contain 30% fewer parts and three times the production capacity of their predecessor, were first deployed in Berlin, Germany, in July 2023.

Although the initiative received attention for its innovations, it received just as much attention criticize by privacy advocates who described the project as intrusive and potentially exploitative.

Shortly after the project was launched, France and Germany Investigations into biometric data collection practices have begun. The French privacy watchdog, CNIL, questioned the legality of the data collection and storage operations, describing them as “questionable.”

The world did not immediately respond to Decryption Request for comment.

Modified by Sebastian Sinclair