Eager early adopters recently descended upon a Mexico City cafe where their eyes were scanned by a futuristic sphere, part of an ambitious project that ultimately seeks to create a unique digital identification for everyone on the planet.

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/486175 (!aistuff@lemdro.id)

Eager early adopters recently descended upon a Mexico City cafe where their eyes were scanned by a futuristic sphere, part of an ambitious project that ultimately seeks to create a unique digital identification for everyone on the planet.

Mexico is one of nearly three dozen countries where participants are allowing the sphere, outfitted with cameras and dubbed an orb, to scan their iris. The project’s goal is to distinguish people from bots online, while doling out a cryptocurrency bonus as a incentive to participate.

The so-called Worldcoin project is a biometric verification tool led by Sam Altman, the chief executive of Open AI, and the crypto company he co-founded, Tools for Humanity.

This doesn’t sound creepy at all… thoughts?

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    Mexico is one of nearly three dozen countries where participants are allowing the sphere, outfitted with cameras and dubbed an orb, to scan their iris.

    The project’s goal is to distinguish people from bots online, while doling out a cryptocurrency bonus as a incentive to participate.

    “(Privacy) is something that doesn’t worry me too much,” said Jose Incera, after allowing his iris to be scanned in exchange for the equivalent of nearly $54 in Worldcoin’s cryptocurrency.

    In a video interview, Sam Sadle, the public policy chief at Tools for Humanity, sought to calm worries over the project’s use of personal data.

    Despite the professed safeguards, the project has generated concerns over security risks, including from Agneris Sampieri, a policy analyst with digital rights group Access Now.

    “They don’t clearly mention the time frame in which the biometric data they collect will be processed and retained,” she said, adding that the ownership of the iris code is also unclear.