Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner rules that Worldcoin violates privacy law and orders it to stop collecting iris and facial images

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has completed its investigation into the Worldcoin project. Privacy Commissioner Chung Lai-ling ruled that the operation of Worldcoin in Hong Kong violated the Privacy Ordinance and has issued an enforcement notice requiring it to stop collecting citizens' iris and facial images with iris scanning devices. The investigation results show that Worldcoin violated the data protection principles of the Privacy Ordinance regarding the collection, retention, transparency, access and correction of personal data. The collection of facial and iris images is not necessary and is excessive. As for the fact that Worldcoin will retain personal data for up to 10 years for the training of artificial intelligence models for identity verification procedures, the Office believes that the time is too long and it is excessive retention of personal data. The Office also pointed out that when or before "World Coin" collected personal data, participants were not clearly informed of the information required by law, including the purpose of collecting personal data and the rights and methods of participants to access and correct personal data; "World Coin" collected personal data unfairly, and the relevant "Privacy Statement" and "Biometric Data Consent Form" not only lacked Chinese versions, but the staff at the operating point would not explain or confirm to the participants that they understood the contents of the documents, nor would they inform the participants of the risks of disclosing biometric data to them or answer the participants' questions. (Hong Kong Radio)