Spain’s High Court upholds temporary ban on Worldcoin iris-scanning venture
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Spain’s High Court on Monday upheld a temporary ban on Worldcoin’s iris-scanning venture, in the latest blow to a project that has sparked privacy concerns in several countries.
The court said the “safeguarding of the public interest” must prevail, dismissing an appeal by Worldcoin’s owners.
Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2019, Worldcoin aims to create a global identity system by getting people to have their irises scanned in exchange for free cryptocurrency and a digital ID.
The venture was temporarily banned on Wednesday by Spain’s privacy watchdog following complaints of insufficient information, the collection of data from minors and not allowing the withdrawal of consent.
The watchdog said the processing of biometric data, which has special protection under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, “entails high risks for people’s rights, taking into account their sensitive nature”.
It told Worldcoin to stop collecting personal information and stop using data it had already gathered.
Worldcoin said in a statement on its website that Spain’s regulator had circumvented the “accepted EU process and rules” without giving details.
