Worldcoin fined 1.1 bln won for illegal iris info collection involving 30,000 users

Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency business based on iris biometrics and co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, was fined 1.1 billion won (US$827,689) on Thursday for illegally collecting the iris information of some 30,000 users in South Korea and transferring the data overseas. During its plenary session, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) decided to impose the fine on Worldcoin, following an investigation launched in response to a complaint in February regarding its iris information collection, officials said. Worldcoin, launched in July last year, pays "WLD" tokens to users in exchange for having their irises scanned using its orb-shaped iris scanner. Once identified as human, users are assigned a "World ID" to create an online wallet for storing their tokens. As of September, 29,991 users in South Korea had their irises authenticated for Worldcoin. The PIPC's investigation found that the Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity (TFH) -- the technology developer for the business -- faile d to provide users with essential information about the purpose of the data collection, as well as the duration for which the information would be stored and used, when gathering their iris data. The two entities were also found to have failed to notify users when transferring their personal data overseas, including to Germany, the commission said. Iris codes are classified as sensitive personal data due to their accuracy in personal identification and irreversibility, making it necessary by law to obtain users' consent for data collection for security purposes. The PIPC on Thursday imposed fines of 725 million won on Worldcoin Foundation and 379 million won on TFH, respectively, for violations of laws regarding the processing of sensitive personal data and its transfer overseas. The foundation was also recommended to establish a protocol for obtaining users' consent for the collection of sensitive data and to refrain from using personal information for purposes not initially declared. A PIPC official sa id that the commission confirmed the original iris information collected by Worldcoin has all been deleted. Source: Yonhap News Agency