World’s iris biometrics scans launch in one country, undone in another

World has made its debut in Italy, deploying Orbs to Rome to register “proof of human” with iris biometrics scans.

Online fraud in Italy cost 181 million euros in 2024, according to the company’s blog post announcing the launch, which goes on to detail the challenges of online authenticity in the country and around the world.

World ID is recommended for ticketing and entertainment use cases, financial services and platforms like social media and dating apps in the announcement.

World also highlights that it only registers users at least 18 years old, giving it potential utility for age verification.

The company also highlights the privacy protections built into its system, which does not store names, government IDs, images or biometric templates.

Kenya confirms all biometric data deleted

Tools for Humanity has deleted any biometric data it collected from Kenyans, after the country’s data protection authority was not won over by World’s argument that it preserves privacy.

Kenya’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) confirmed the World parent’s compliance with orders it made last year under the Data Protection Act. The DPC had found that TfH failed to conduct a necessary Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) prior to scanning Kenyan’s iris biometric data. The issuance of the Worldcoin cryptocurrency in return for registration was also declared in violation of the requirement that people only submit their data on a voluntary basis. The Kenya Times further reports that TfH failed an obligation to register its affiliates in the country.

The confirmation concludes a process that started back in mid-2023, when the first group of national data protection regulators began looking into World’s (then “Worldcoin’s”) compliance.

Article Topics

biometric data  |  iris biometrics  |  Italy  |  Kenya  |  proof of personhood  |  Tools for Humanity  |  World  |  World ID  |  World ID Orb