- Portugal authorities have temporarily blocked Worldcoin’s plan to gather biometric data.
- Worldcoin has been involved in several legal disputes since the beginning of the month.
Regulators in Portugal have spoken out against Worldcoin, Sam Altman’s artificial intelligence (AI) cryptocurrency project, and are investigating its data collecting efforts throughout the country. This is a major setback for the project. This setback experienced by a prominent AI-based cryptocurrency project quickly captured the attention of the whole globe, fitting in with the increased scrutiny that this burgeoning technology, AI, has been receiving.
Meanwhile, Worldcoin seems to be under increased attention worldwide for its cryptography research efforts, adding to its stack of legal disputes. A news surfaced today stating that the data authorities in Portugal have temporarily blocked Sam Altman’s Worldcoin’s plan to gather biometric data in the country via iris scanning for a period of 90 days.
Global Regulatory Scrutiny
Furthermore, a flurry of complaints regarding “deficiencies in the information provided to the data subjects,” unauthorized data collection from minors, and a lack of deleting the data or withdrawing permission have been received in recent days by the CNPD (Comissão Nacional de Protecção de Dados), Portugal’s data regulator. Also, in a surprising turn of events, this culminated in the Portuguese authority blocking Worldcoin’s data collecting services.
Worldcoin Foundation data protection officer Jannick Preiwisch stated:
“We assure complete compliance with data laws, including GDPR, and respect the CNPD’s role. We’re transparent and eager to address concerns, including reports of underage sign-ups, which we’re actively addressing.”
Moreover, Worldcoin has already been involved in several legal disputes since the beginning of the month, which might lead to further setbacks for the project.
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