Worldcoin pilots face biometrics, arrives in Poland

Worldcoin has launched its “humanness verification” with iris biometrics deduplication in Poland, and also introduced a set of new security and privacy enhancements, including a pilot of face biometrics for authenticating its digital ID.

Once Polish residents have proved their humanity with an iris scan by an Orb, they can collect their World ID, along with 25 worldcoins.

The digital ID and crypto firm’s Orbs have been deployed to three locations in Warsaw to carry out scans of iris biometrics, and apparently face biometrics too.

The Polish Office for Personal Data Protection (UODO) has indicated that it considers the exchange of biometric data for a small financial reward to be a red flag, but Worldcoin parent Tools for Humanity has had dialogue with the regulator about keeping onside of the law. A third party will conduct age verification prior to user verification, to avoid violating GDPR restrictions on handling the data of minors, TVP reports.

Tools for Humanity is in discussion with multiple startups in Poland about implementing proof of humanity in their applications, according to the report, and the technology is already used by Telegram, Reddit, Discord and Minecraft.

Poland is the 39th country where Orb verifications have been conducted.

The launch in Poland follows a July rollout in Austria and an introduction in Malaysia with the backing of the government and state owned tech company Mimos.

Meanwhile in Singapore, an investigation of seven individuals accused of violating regulations by buying and selling worldcoins continues. The Straits Times notes that Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong told parliament that Worldcoin is not considered a payment service under the Payment Services Act, but those who buy and sell its cryptocurrency for profit may be.

Face biometrics added to authenticate digital ID

Worldcoin is also launching user authentication with face biometrics for World ID.

The Face Auth feature uses a reference image captured by the Orb during the user’s initial verification and stored only on the user’s own device, and encrypted with their World ID key. Selfie biometric matching is entirely local, according to the announcement.

The company has also published a “Private by Design” whitepaper. Over the course of 16 pages, the paper explores Worldcoin’s four core privacy principles of security, anonymity, choice and control and transparency.

The company’s position on privacy is also outlined in a trio of videos in which Tools for Humanity executives explain key concepts in online trust, preserving anonymity and informed consent.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  cryptocurrency  |  digital ID  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  iris biometrics  |  Tools for Humanity  |  World  |  World ID