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Colombia’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) accused Worldcoin — the decentralized identity founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — of infringing data protection laws.
According to an Aug. 21 SIC statement, the regulator sent a notification to Worldcoin and its developer Tools for Humanity. This kind of notification is the first act of an indictment which does not require a formal accusation. The announcement reads:
“The purpose of the proceedings is to determine whether the investigated companies have infringed the Colombian personal data protection regime in the collection of sensitive personal data in relation to the implementation of personal data processing policies and privacy notices.”
A biometric identity project
Worldcoin’s website explains it is collecting data from individuals with a purpose-built device called an Orb in 25 locations in Colombia. Those locations include the capital Bogota as well as six other cities such as Medellin, Cartagena and Barraquilla.
If Worldcoin and its parent company were to be found guilty, the SIC could impose economic sanctions on it as well as an immediate temporary or permanent halt on its operations. Colombia is just the latest of Latin America’s nations to investigate the project.
Earlier this month, Ecuador’s central bank issued a reminder that “crypto assets are not a currency” to its citizens — only two months after Worldcoin started operating in the country. Similarly, a year ago the Argentine Agency for Access to Public Information initiated an investigation into Worldcoin to find how legal its data collection practices are.
The Argentine regulator at the time explained that its objective is to scrutinize the security of Worldcoin’s protocols for safeguarding the privacy of local users. The agency further explained that the case saw “public notoriety in recent weeks due to the procedure of scanning the faces and irises of numerous individuals in exchange for financial compensation at different locations in Buenos Aires City and the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, and Río Negro.”
