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Tech founder Sam Altman
Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP
According to a report in the Financial Times, Spain has blocked OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman's Worldcoin cryptocurrency project.
The data protection authority Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) has asked Worldcoin to immediately stop collecting personal data by scanning the participants' eye irises and to no longer use the data that has already been collected, writes the "FT".
The core idea of the project is to use an iris scan to issue a digital ID card in order to be able to prove beyond doubt that the holders are actually human beings - and not software robots - in times of artificial intelligence on the Internet.
According to the project creators, the aim of Worldcoin is to distribute a new digital token free of charge to everyone in the world in order to enable them to access and participate in the global economy.
The company Tools for Humanity (TFH), co-founded by Altman and based in Berlin and San Francisco, is behind the project.
The German computer scientist Alex Blania is one of the TFH founders.
Although TFH does not collect any other personal data such as name, birthday and address during the iris scan, the WorldID concept was met with mistrust by politicians and authorities.
From a data protection perspective, the system should be rejected as a dystopian - i.e. undesirable - project, said Bundestag member Misbah Khan (Greens).
The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision and the banking regulator Bafin announced investigations.
Results are not yet available.
In Spain, according to the FT, the regulator announced that it had taken the "precautionary measure" earlier this week and given Worldcoin 72 hours to demonstrate compliance with the order.
Spain is the first European country to take action against Worldcoin.
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