Hong Kong privacy watchdog calls for ChatGPT creator’s crypto project to halt iris-scanning operations in city
- Office of Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data says investigation has found Worldcoin’s operations in city posed ‘serious risks to personal data privacy’
- Project launched by OpenAI’s Sam Altman requires participants to scan faces and irises to create ‘digital passports’, in exchange for free Worldcoin crypto tokens
Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has called for a cryptocurrency project launched by ChatGPT creator Sam Altman to halt the collection of face and iris scans in the city after finding it was in breach of local data protection regulations.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) began investigating the Worldcoin Foundation’s project in January, as it was banned from operating in multiple countries over privacy concerns.
The initiative has already collected face and iris scans from 8,302 people in Hong Kong.
The watchdog on Wednesday said its investigation found Worldcoin’s operations in the city posed “serious risks to personal data privacy”.
“The PCPD considered that the face and iris images collected by the Worldcoin project were unnecessary and excessive, contravening the requirements of Data Protection Principles,” it said.
The privacy commissioner’s office has previously said it lacks the power to restrict the project’s operations in Hong Kong.