German watchdog goes after Sam Altman’s Worldcoin over biometric data practices

Worldcoin, a digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is under regulatory scrutiny in Germany for its handling of biometric data. The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) has concluded its investigation into the project, demanding compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Data protection concerns

The regulator ordered the deletion of all improperly collected data and mandated that Worldcoin implement a GDPR-compliant data deletion procedure within one month of the ruling’s effective date.

Michael Will, President of BayLDA, emphasized the importance of protecting users’ rights. 

The ruling also ensures users can exercise their right to the erasure of iris data provided to Worldcoin.

Worldcoin seeks to clarify issues with BayLDA

Damien Kieran, TFH’s chief legal and privacy officer, highlighted the critical role of anonymization in preserving privacy. “Without a clear definition around anonymization, we lose perhaps our most powerful tool in the fight to protect privacy in the age of AI,” he said.

World Foundation data privacy compliance efforts

In response to regulatory concerns from several authorities, Worldcoin voluntarily suspended some of its operations across EU countries during the investigation. It also introduced updates to improve compliance, including cryptographic protocols that split iris codes into encrypted fragments to enhance privacy.

Despite these measures, BayLDA determined that additional adjustments were required. The regulator emphasized the need for explicit user consent at specific stages of data processing and raised questions about the adequacy of Worldcoin’s anonymization methods.