By
Mayowa Adebajo
June 12th, 2024
Hong Kong is not the first country to halt Worldcoin’s operations due to privacy concerns.
The Hong Kong government has stopped Worldcoin, a digital identity project, from conducting iris scanning operations in the nation due to privacy concerns. This decision comes after an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD).
The investigation, launched in January 2024, scrutinized Worldcoin’s practices and compliance with local privacy laws. After thorough examination, Privacy Commissioner Chung Lai-ling concluded that Worldcoin’s operations violated the Privacy Ordinance concerning the collection, retention, transparency, access, and correction of personal data.
As a result, the Commissioner issued an enforcement notice mandating Worldcoin to cease its collection of citizens’ iris and facial images through its iris scanning devices immediately.
The move aims to ensure that the privacy of Hong Kong residents is safeguarded according to the country’s stringent privacy regulations.
Worldcoin Scanned 8,302 People in Hong Kong
The PCPD obtained court approval in January to visit six locations where Worldcoin operated and scanned users’ biometric data after visiting the operating points in December 2023 without a warrant.
Between December and January, the privacy agency visited the six locations at least ten times before interrogating the staff at the operating centers. During this period, Worldcoin confirmed that it scanned 8,302 people during its operations in Hong Kong, verifying both their faces and irises.
The PCPD discovered after its investigation that scanning both the irises and faces of Hong Kong residents was too invasive and unfair to the people of Hong Kong.
The Commissioner stated that Worldcoin collected the personal data of the verified individuals without providing full information regarding the extent of the scan.
Worldcoin Failed to Educate Hong Kong Participants
He also disclosed that the “Privacy Statement” and “Biometric Data Consent Form” the project provided to users were only written in English and lacked a Chinese version, making it harder for participants to comprehend since English is not the country’s first language.
Commissioner Lai-ling also added that Worldcoin employees who operated at the scanning centers failed to educate participants about the risks involved in scanning their irises.
Furthermore, the staff failed to confirm if the participants understood the contents of the consent form before agreeing to be scanned.
They also ignored those who tried to ask questions to understand the implications of having their biometrics verified by the project.
The PCPD also stated that ten years is too long to allow Worldcoin access to people’s information for training artificial intelligence (AI) models for identity verification procedures.
Not the First
Meanwhile, Hong Kong is not the first country to halt Worldcoin’s operations due to privacy concerns. The digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has faced regulatory issues in other countries, starting with Kenya.
Kenya was the first African country to allow Worldcoin to open verification centers for scanning people in the country.
However, tables turned in August 2023 when the government ordered the project to suspend operations citing privacy concerns. Since then, other countries, such as Portugal, have followed in the footsteps of Kenya to halt Worldcoin operations.