The government of South Korea has opened an investigation into Worldcoin, the iris scanning cryptocurrency and digital wallet project. According to a press release, the Personal Information Protection Commission, the data privacy watchdog in the country, will investigate the actions taken by Worldcoin regarding the treatment of the data collected from users and will take action according to its findings.
South Korea Launches Investigation Into Worldcoin's Data Collection Practices
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Worldcoin Under Investigation in South Korea
Worldcoin, a project that seeks to prove humanness through biometric data, is facing increased oversight in South Korea. The government of South Korea is now inquiring about the biometric data collection practices of the organization in the country.
According to a press release, the Personal Information Protection Commission, the agency in charge of formulating data privacy policies and supervising data protection law compliance, has opened an investigation against Worldcoin. Ko Hak-soo, chairman of the organization, took this initiative after receiving complaints about the “collection and processing of personal information” practices of Worldcoin and associated parties.
The South Korean government is aware that these activities are ongoing in at least 10 locations in the country, where Worldcoin uses a device called the Orb to scan the iris of its users. Their identities and information are then processed to receive a bonus of 25 WLD, the project’s cryptocurrency.
Worldcoin stresses that the image resulting from the scan of the iris of each person onboarded gets deleted after the verification process. However, users have the possibility of maintaining this information onchain.
The commission stated it “plans to conduct investigations into the overall collection and processing of sensitive information and overseas transfer of personal information under the Personal Information Protection Act.” It also confirmed that it will take action “if violations are confirmed,” according to relevant laws and regulations.
South Korea is the last of many governments that have ordered investigative procedures against Worldcoin due to its intrusive personal data collection activities. Argentina, Kenya, Hong Kong, France, and Bavaria have exerted similar actions to ascertain compliance of the company’s data collection and processing practices with local laws.
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