Photo : YONHAP News
Data protection authorities have slapped fines of more than one billion won on digital identification platform, Worldcoin, for failing to observe South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act(PIPA).
The Personal Information Protection Commission on Wednesday fined Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity(TFH), which runs a Worldcoin-compatible wallet, for not abiding by PIPA in the process of gathering personal data and transferring it abroad.
Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency developed by CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman, was fined 725 million won, or roughly 546-thousand U.S. dollars, and Tools for Humanity(TFH) 379 million won, or some 285-thousand U.S. dollars.
The commission called on Worldcoin to guarantee that personal information, including iris ID data, will not be used for purposes other than compilation and to thoroughly notify users in the event their personal data is transferred overseas.
As of this month, a total of 93-thousand-463 people in the country have downloaded the Worldcoin-compatible wallet and of that total nearly 30-thousand were estimated to have had their irises scanned by Worldcoin’s “Orb” devices in exchange for a digital ID.