Worldcoin Pushback Sees Firm Change the Way it Collects Data in Chile

cryptonews.com:

Tools For Humanity, the operator of Worldcoin (WLD), will change the way it collects data in Chile after legal challenges.

The Spanish-language media outlet Criptonoticias reported that Tools For Humanity will now bar “children and adolescents” from handing over biometric data in exchange for WLD tokens.

Astrid Vasconcellos, the head of communications and marketing for Tools For Humanity Latin America at Tools For Humanity, said the firm had “made changes” to the way it operates “following criticism and controversy.”

Worldcoin launched its Chile operations in July last year in Chile, with uptake high in many parts of the country.

Media outlets reported “long queues” forming at Chilean iris-scanning centers. However, the firm has faced pushback from the legal community over its decision to allow teenagers to use Orb scanners.

This has “sparked a controversy” in the nation, the media outlet noted.

The Chilean lawyer Rodrigo Lagos filed a case at the Santiago Court of Appeals in March this year after learning that his 17-year-old daughter was allowed to scan her iris “without her parents’ consent.”

This case came at a time when international scrutiny of Worldcoin operations and data privacy concerns were heightening.

Watchdogs and politicians in Europe, Africa, and Asia have stepped in. Elsewhere in Latin America, lawmakers have also called for Worldcoin-related regulations.

Chilean authorities thus followed suit. They began monitoring the firm in April to “ensure that consumers are fully informed about how their data will be used.”

Tools for Humanity, a tech company co-founded and chaired by OpenAI head Sam Altman, has recruited Damien Kieran to be its first chief privacy officer. https://t.co/MEzQkBfNST

— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw)