Key Takeaways:
- Worldcoin is set to deploy a proof-of-personhood mechanism.
- Don’t catalog people's eyeballs, Edward Snowden warns.
LAGOS (CoinChapter.com) — Worldcoin a new global cryptocurrency has announced a privacy upgrade that will address its long criticized privacy and user data protection shortcomings.
In detail, Worldcoin via a blog post announced the launch of the proof-of-personhood protocol mechanism to increase its privacy capabilities. Additionally, the proof-of-personhood protocol mechanism will leverage zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) to allow for anonymous actions.
Worldcoin noted that PPPoPP will aid its mission to airdrop tokens to over a billion people globally. However, the initiative has suffered a lot of criticism and setback due to inadequate infrastructure.
Co-founded in 2020 by former Y Combinator chief Sam Altman, Worldcoin aims to photograph the irises of everyone on earth in order to identify them so it can distribute its digital currency fairly.
So far, the firm has collected images of the eyes of hundreds of thousands of people in about 20 countries. However, the initiative has halted operations in at least seven countries due to a host of logistical challenges.
The project has been bedeviled by problems such as lack of smartphone access, confused users, and fraud attempts. This has prompted the company to redraw its launch plans.
Experts Condemn Worldcoin Eyes Scanning Initiative
Worldcoin’s method of jump-starting the global crypto revolution has been condemned by several experts. Many criticized loopholes in the project’s means of data collection and controversial aspects in its data consent form.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden via his Twitter handle expressed his displeasure with the initiative. He warned that cataloging human eyeballs will cause more harm than good.
Similarly, Adam Schwartz, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the ambiguity about Worldcoin’s goals is troublesome. He said:
“The question is, is this a digital currency company, or is this a data broker? Either way, the practice at hand, which is paying people for their biometrics, is very problematic to privacy and equity.”
However, Worldcoin has noted that once its systems are perfected, it will anonymize and delete users’ biometric data. It also noted that users’ privacy will be guaranteed as a result of the new mechanism.
Jeremy Clark, an associate professor at the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering also questioned the security of the orb.
Others experts further expressed concerns with Worldcoin’s purported focus on fairness given that 20 percent of the coins had already been allocated. Mainly, 10 percent to its full-time employees, and another 10 percent to investors.
