World ID

Transparency, accountability 🙈

World is seen to suffer from several important transparency and accountability limitations:

• Limited access to protocol infrastructure, restricting access to independent verification and auditing of the system's operations.

• Data usage, retention and deletion policies, including how collected biometric data will be used, stored, and potentially shared.

• Governance structure. While the WLD token is intended for potential use in protocol governance, the exact mechanisms and decision-making processes are not fully defined, raising questions about who ultimately controls the project's direction and policies.

• Legal and regulatory opacity. Worldcoin has faced regulatory challenges in multiple countries, but has been criticised for it lack of transparency about its plans to address these regulatory concerns and comply with diverse data protection laws.

Risks, harms 🛑

World ID's governance, field-testing and other activities have prompted concerns about user privacy, security and safety. It has also been accused of misleading and opaque marketing communication, unclear age restrictions, and other issues.

World has been the subject of regulatory investigations, bans and market withdrawals in multiple countries.

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Gent E. A Cryptocurrency for the Masses or a Universal ID?: Worldcoin Aims to Scan all the World's Eyeballs

• Kraiwanit T. et al. Adoption of Worldcoin digital wallet in Thailand

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://time.com/7288387/sam-altman-orb-tools-for-humanity/

• https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/1048981/worldcoin-cryptocurrency-biometrics-web3/

• https://www.medianama.com/2023/08/223-heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-worldcoin/

• https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/promise-peril-worldcoin/