this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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Why are people lining up for Worldcoin eyeball scans? “Easy $50” (restofworld.org)
submitted 1 year ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Reporters visited booths of Worldcoin, a global blockchain project championed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in Nairobi, Bengaluru, and Hong Kong to get a better sense of who was signing up for the service and why. In all three cities, the surge of interest for registering their biometrics to the blockchain was driven primarily by the sign-up bonuses. Relatively few people were familiar with the goals of the project.

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[–] 0x815@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Last year the MIT Technology Review published an extensive research report. It's a very long read but it's worth the time if I may say so.

Deception, exploited workers, and cash handouts: How Worldcoin recruited its first half a million test users

Our [MIT] investigation revealed wide gaps between Worldcoin’s public messaging, which focused on protecting privacy, and what users experienced. We found that the company’s representatives used deceptive marketing practices, collected more personal data than it acknowledged, and failed to obtain meaningful informed consent. These practices may violate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)—a likelihood that the company’s own data consent policy acknowledged and asked users to accept—as well as local laws. [...]

Pete Howson, a senior lecturer at Northumbria University who researches cryptocurrency in international development, categorizes Worldcoin’s actions as a sort of crypto-colonialism, where “blockchain and cryptocurrency experiments are being imposed on vulnerable communities essentially because…these people can’t push back,” he told MIT Technology Review in an email.

[–] 00@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

Oh wow. It gets worse with every sentence. "Crypto-colonialism" has to be the most terrifying new term ive learned this week.

[–] morry040@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Great article, thanks! The last few sections really make it seem like a dumpster fire.

So, in simple terms, the value proposition is that the retinal scan will generate a unique ID of a person in the system and ensure that a person cannot be registered more than once. This will then allow the system to be used for tasks like authentication or ensuring fair distribution of tokens. Another potential use case mentioned is something like the administration of Universal Basic Income (UBI), whereby the system would verify that people receive UBI and cannot claim duplicate payments. You could also extend that idea to things like government ID.

The privacy concerns would probably prevent a roll-out in most Western markets, so it will be interesting to see if they can generate enough business in other markets.