Crypto Opinions & News Sam Altman's crypto project: Worldcoin

[vtqhtr413]

Content source

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/24/sam-altman-crypto-project-worldcoin-is-launched/

The firm cleverly drummed up expectations through a series of tantalizing tweets throughout the weekend. Although the launch wasn't a complete surprise (thanks to an embargoed press announcement), Semafor still managed to grab the scoop by reporting the news first.

In a clever twist, Worldcoin sent users a push notification on Sunday prompting them to update their mobile app, accompanied by a cryptic yet intriguing message: "It's time. Join us in the World App. July 24, 2023 11 am."

With the green light now flashing, developers can freely access the Worldcoin software development kit, which was previously exclusive to beta mode. This allows them to craft tools and applications that operate with World ID, the distinguishing identity protocol of the Sam Altman crypto enterprise.

Achieving full verification involves an intriguing process - users must have their irises scanned by a specialized device named Orb, a product unique to the Worldcoin project. Orb crafts a unique identifier from human irises, ensuring no related data is locally processed or stored, according to the firm's claims.

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Finally...

Some of us have been advocating these use cases for years as a natural fit for Blockchain.

Go Sammy...

Worldcoin Docs

docs.worldcoin.org

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

The ID...

All I have to do now is wait for an Orb to come to Australia to complete verification.

The app...

 

[vtqhtr413]

Tools for Humanity has an iris-scanning Orb that decides whether you're human or a robot—and then gives you crypto. But is Worldcoin worth the price?

I’M HERE TO see the Orb, the receptionist knows exactly what I’m talking about, I’m not the first person here for an audience. Inside the coworking space in Shoreditch, East London, a small crowd has gathered. Mostly male, mostly young, many bearded—very crypto. The Orb is there too, chrome, gleaming, mounted at eye-level on a pole, waiting to scan us, one by one. In fact, there are two Orbs—the other one is being carted around less ceremoniously by hand. The devices are on a world tour, the sharp end of a new cryptocurrency-based project, Worldcoin, created by Tools for Humanity, a company cofounded by Alex Blania and Sam Altman,

I Looked Into Sam Altman’s Orb and All I Got Was This Lousy Crypto

Tools for Humanity has an iris-scanning Orb that decides whether you're human or a robot—and then gives you crypto. But is Worldcoin worth the price?

www.wired.com

 

[Ink]

They are harvesting a ton of human and biometric data. Privacy nightmare? (Scam)​

Look into the orb​

By the time we spoke to Blania in March, Worldcoin had already scanned 450,000 eyes, faces, and bodies in 24 countries. Of those, 14 are developing nations, according to the World Bank. Eight are located in Africa. But the company was just getting started—its aim is to garner a billion sign-ups by 2023.

Central to Worldcoin’s distribution was the high-tech orb itself, armed with advanced cameras and sensors that not only scanned irises but took high-resolution images of “users’ body, face, and eyes, including users’ irises,” according to the company’s descriptions in a blog post. Additionally, its data consent form notes that the company also conduct “contactless doppler radar detection of your heartbeat, breathing, and other vital signs.” In response to our questions, Worldcoin said it never implemented vital sign detection techniques, and that it will remove this language from its data consent form. (As of press time, the language remains.)

The biometric information is used to generate an “IrisHash,” a code that is stored locally on the orb. The code is never shared, according to Worldcoin, but rather is used to check whether that IrisHash already exists in Worldcoin’s database. To do this, the company says, it uses a novel privacy-protecting cryptographic method known as a zero-knowledge proof. If the algorithm finds a match, this indicates that a person has already tried to sign up. If it does not, the individual has passed the uniqueness check and can continue registration with an email address, phone number, or QR code to access a Worldcoin wallet. All of this is meant to occur in seconds.

Worldcoin says that biometric information remains on the orb and is deleted once uploaded—or at least it will be one day, once the company has finished training its AI neural network to recognize irises and detect fraud. Until then, beyond vague descriptions like “personal data…sent via secure, encrypted channels,” it’s unclear how this data is being handled. “During our field-testing phase, we are collecting and securely storing more data than we will upon its completion,” the blog post states. “We will delete all the biometric data we have collected during field testing once our algorithms are fully-trained.”

In response to our questions just before this article went to press, Worldcoin said the public version of their system would soon eliminate the need for new users to share any biometric data with the company—though it hasn’t explained how this will work.

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

The startup promises a fairly-distributed, cryptocurrency-based universal basic income. So far all it's done is build a biometric database from the bodies of the poor.

www.technologyreview.com

Are you going to let Sam Altman’s crypto project scan your eyeballs or not? | TechCrunch

Worldcoin's Orb tour has spread across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

techcrunch.com

 

[vtqhtr413]

Worldcoin (WLD), the crypto project launched by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, is being investigated by French data protection regulator CNI for “questionable” practices, the regulator told CoinDesk. "The legality of this [data] collection seems questionable, as do the conditions for preservation of biometric data," a CNIL spokesperson said in a written statement, referring to Worldcoin's practice of scanning retinas to ensure that no single person can claim crypto rewards twice.

Worldcoin went live on Monday and its cheerleaders say it could spread crypto wider than bitcoin (BTC), but it has drawn the ire of privacy watchdogs in the U.K., where the Information Commissioner’s Office has warned that people must freely give consent to the processing of their personal data, and be able to withdraw it without detriment.

Worldcoin Being Probed by French Privacy Regulator for ‘Questionable’ Practices

Sam Altman’s latest eyeball-scanning initiative is attracting attention from data protection regulators.

www.coindesk.com

UK Information Commission to Make Inquiries About Worldcoin

The firm has claimed it complies with "very, very local and very specific rules and regulations in each of the markets where there's an Orb."

www.coindesk.com

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Its interesting reading all this conspiracy stuff. Mainly conjecture and puff IMHO.

As for the collection of third-world individual's data, one of the main objectives of this project is to give exactly these people a verified form of ID(ie the IrisHash), hopefully increasing their access to things like banking, democracy and aid where needed, as they are largely excluded from these basic human rights under the current system. Its all designed to improve live's. So its not surprising they are part of the initial target audience.

Having said this, its fair enough that Worldcoin is heavily scrutinised at this stage. But some balance and perspective is required.

Personally, I think it is a brilliant use case for Blockchain, so much so I already have a minted NFT company logo and Ethereum business name based on the same idea. Its called optometrics.me and the website is actually online. For me, Worldcoin is a perfect fit as a payment method.

I'll be at the front of the queue when the Orb comes to Australia. Money where your mouth is sort of stuff.

 

[vtqhtr413]

Its interesting reading all this conspiracy stuff. Mainly conjecture and puff IMHO.

As for the collection of third-world individual's data, one of the main objectives of this project is to give exactly these people a verified form of ID(ie the IrisHash), hopefully increasing their access to things like banking, democracy and aid where needed, as they are largely excluded from these basic human rights under the current system. Its all designed to improve live's. So its not surprising they are part of the initial target audience.

Having said this, its fair enough that Worldcoin is heavily scrutinised at this stage. But some balance and perspective is required.

Personally, I think it is a brilliant use case for Blockchain, so much so I already have a minted NFT company logo and Ethereum business name based on the same idea. Its called optometrics.me and the website is actually online. For me, Worldcoin is a perfect fit as a payment method.

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I'll be at the front of the queue when the Orb comes to Australia. Money where your mouth is sort of stuff.

Couldn't agree more, media really has to be sensational to sell ads, we can't forget that, it's entertainment, more or less. I think it is a nobel effort on Sam Altman's part, whether it will work or not I don't know. The worries over privacy are warranted but also exaggerated, I'll be in line too.

 

[vtqhtr413]

According to data on its website, over 2.1 million users have already scanned their irises into the Worldcoin Orb. Yes, that's right, scanned their irises. But why does a bowling ball-sized device that scans users' irises exist? To ensure this newfound prosperity benefits all of humanity, Worldcoin proposes the idea of a universal basic income (UBI) distributed through their cryptocurrency by scattering over 2,000 Worldcoin orbs around the world.

The concept of a global UBI is noble, but it raises questions about how to guarantee that the tokens reach actual human beings and not AI-driven entities or bad actors aiming to exploit the system. Worldcoin's team grappled with this challenge and ultimately embraced the idea of biometric verification using the Worldcoin Orb.

While they were reluctant to take this path due to its controversial nature, they recognized it as the most viable solution to distinguish humans from AI systems effectively. The Orb's ability to scan irises emerged as a crucial safeguard against potential fraud and manipulation, albeit with unsettling optics reminiscent of Sauron's eye from the Lord of the Rings and some even thought that it is evil.

Wordcoin Orb is not to be joked around - gHacks Tech News

While Worldcoin Orb's iris scanning for identity verification offers potential benefits, users should carefully weigh the associated risks.

www.ghacks.net

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Wordcoin Orb is not to be joked around - gHacks Tech News

While Worldcoin Orb's iris scanning for identity verification offers potential benefits, users should carefully weigh the associated risks.

www.ghacks.net

Two points,

Firstly, nowhere that I can find has Worldcoin mentioned introducing a Universal Basic Income(UBI). This is a term used by conspiracy theorist's to describe a global minimum wage for workers based on the introduction of AI and communist ideologies and is a gross misuse of the term as a scare tactic or a gross misunderstanding of the theory by the author.

Secondly, Worldcoin go to great lengths to explain that data collected from the iris scan is ONLY used to produce a hash of an individual's iris which provides an immutable ID code for security purposes. The iris scan image/data is then destroyed and the encrypted hash is only used to verify transactions by the individual with a further iris scan at the point of use(e.g. voting, collection of aid, establishing a bank account, etc). It is no worse, but more accurate and less prone to fraud, than your fingerprint.

This type of article is typical sensationalist journalism rather than a balanced review of the technology as presented.

 

[vtqhtr413]

Couldn't agree more, media really has to be sensational to sell ads, we can't forget that, it's entertainment, more or less. I think it is a nobel effort on Sam Altman's part, whether it will work or not I don't know. The worries over privacy are warranted but also exaggerated, I'll be in line too.

I try to post articles from every angle and any opinion, I don't necessarily agree with the posts myself but there has to be a variety of opinions, hell Muzz, I think were the only members who read this thread anyway

When all you have is a Hammer, everything looks like a Nail​

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Haha...

Sorry old cock... definitely not having a go at you. Post away. I'm open to anything, but will 'bite' if I feel it necessary.

 

[Ink]

CertiK said that it informed Worldcoin of the security issue on May 29, about one month prior to the project’s public launch on July 24.

The fact that Worldcoin experienced an early security issue will unlikely inspire confidence in critics.

Blockchain security firm CertiK revealed on Aug. 3 a vulnerability in Worldcoin that could have potentially allowed attackers to take over Orbs.

The bug, before it was patched, would have allowed an attacker to bypass verification procedures to become an operator of Orbs. Those Orbs are Worldcoin’s eye-scanning devices and are installed in public locations around the world.

This means the attacker would not need to exist as a company, have proper ID verification, or undergo a vetting interview to act as an operator, according to CertiK.

Patched Worldcoin bug could have made Orbs vulnerable to remote takeovers: CertiK

Blockchain security firm CertiK revealed on Aug. 3 a vulnerability in Worldcoin that could have potentially allowed attackers to take over Orbs. The bug, before it was patched, would have allowed an attacker to bypass verification procedures to become an operator of Orbs. Those Orbs are...

www.bitcoininsider.org