Worldcoin Maintains Iris Data Collection Pause Even Without Ban

The ban on collecting iris biometric data in Portugal has been lifted and the company that collected it, Worldcoin, wants to resume operations in the near future, but has decided to wait for approval from the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD).

“At the moment, there seem to be no obstacles [para retomar a recolha de dados em Portugal] but we had decided early on not to go back into operations until we had at least some “feedback” from the CNPD on this process, which we haven’t had yet,” says Ricardo Maceira, regional director for Europe at Tools for Humanity, which created the Worldcoin Foundation.

The company says it continues to await a response from the CNPD to discuss the possibility of reopening and to demonstrate its commitment to a full launch in Portugal in the near future.

The regional director for Europe explained that Worldcoin does not purchase iris biometric data and that it is creating a “humanity” verification network when accessing digital platforms where a person can anonymously prove that they are a human user and not an automated user through the access process.

The collection of digital iris images in exchange for compensation in cryptocurrency (a virtual currency used on the Internet) began several months ago in several countries, but currently in the European Union the only market where iris data collection continues is Germany, a country where Tools for Humanity (TfH) has a local office.

Following the global launch in July 2023, the German state of Bavaria’s data protection authority (BayLDA), the lead competent authority responsible for overseeing Worldcoin’s compliance, launched an investigation, the results of which have not yet been published.

In Portugal, the CNPD, following the decision of its Spanish counterpart, decided on March 25 to suspend the collection of iris data for 90 days, a period that has now ended, citing complaints about the conditions of data collection, including on minors, shortcomings in the information provided to data subjects and the impossibility of deleting data or revoking consent.

In the order temporarily restricting the collection of biometric data, CNPD President Paula Meira Lourenço wrote that this is a necessary and justified measure to obtain a beneficial effect in protecting the public interest in the protection of fundamental rights, especially the rights of minors.

In recent months, Worldcoin has developed privacy and security measures to address concerns from data protection authorities, such as enhanced age verification controls, the removal of legacy iris codes, and optional non-verification of World ID (including the option to remove iris codes).

The company explained that the purpose of extending the pause in operations is to give BayLDA time to complete the audit, a process in which Tools for Humanity says it has been fully engaged for over a year, with a commitment not to carry out operations until BayLDA’s consultation process with other EU data protection authorities is complete.