第1923期:Worldcoin Draws Attention Due to Privacy Concerns

Weeks after its international launch, Worldcoin is drawing the attention of officials around the world. Kenya’s government has gone so far as to shut down the service. The international ID company, backed by big investors in Silicon Valley’s technology industry, now has to defend itself in investigations. The central question is whether the biometric data that the company is collecting is secure or not.

世界币在国际推出几周后，引起了世界各地官员的关注。肯尼亚政府甚至关闭了该服务。这家国际身份识别公司得到了硅谷科技行业大投资者的支持，现在必须在调查中为自己辩护。核心问题是该公司收集的生物识别数据是否安全。

Worldcoin is the creation of Sam Altman. He is best known as the head of OpenAI, the maker of the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT. The goal of Worldcoin and the company backing it, Tools for Humanity, is to give people a form of identification that could never be stolen or copied. Worldcoin creates a “World ID”, an identification tool, by scanning someone’s eyes through “orbs.” These are special devices that capture images of the irises, the colored parts of the eyes. One possible use for such an ID tool would be online services. Such services require that people remember passwords and usernames for websites they have signed up for.

世界币是山姆·奥尔特曼的创造。他最出名的身份是 OpenAI 的负责人，也是人工智能程序 ChatGPT 的开发者。世界币及其支持公司 Tools for Humanity 的目标是为人们提供一种永远不会被窃取或复制的身份识别形式。世界币通过“球体”扫描某人的眼睛，创建了“世界 ID”，一种识别工具。这些是捕捉虹膜（眼睛的有色部分）图像的特殊设备。这种 ID 工具的一种可能用途是在线服务。此类服务要求人们记住他们注册的网站的密码和用户名。

The security of those sites can have problems, however. There have been several security issues where usernames and passwords have been stolen. Instead of using old technology like passwords, people could just sign up using their World ID.Worldcoin is an identification project. But it is also using cryptocurrency to get people to sign up. The Worldcoin token is trading for roughly $1.90. However, its value is largely based on expectations rather than its usability as a form of money. Worldcoin launched officially in July. As part of the event, early users were given an amount of cryptocurrency worth between $50 and $60. Most of the countries where Worldcoin launched do not widely use or accept crypto. Further, $50 is a lot of money in developing countries where people are being asked to sign up, including Kenya, where the average monthly wage is around $170.

然而，这些网站的安全性可能存在问题。存在一些用户名和密码被盗的安全问题。人们可以使用他们的 World ID 进行注册，而不是使用密码等旧技术。Worldcoin 是一个身份识别项目。但它也使用加密货币来吸引人们注册。 Worldcoin 代币的交易价格约为 1.90 美元。然而，它的价值很大程度上取决于预期，而不是其作为货币形式的可用性。世界币于七月正式推出。作为活动的一部分，早期用户获得了价值 50 至 60 美元的加密货币。世界币推出的大多数国家并未广泛使用或接受加密货币。此外，在要求人们注册的发展中国家，50 美元是一大笔钱，包括肯尼亚，那里的平均月工资约为 170 美元。

Thousands of Kenyans lined up in Nairobi in early August at a center where Worldcoin took images of their irises in exchange for 25 coins worth about $50. The lines included mothers with children on their backs. Some of those in line told local media that they had traveled from a distance after friends said “free money” was being handed out. They admitted not knowing why they needed to scan their irises and where that information would go. Others who waited for hours included college-educated Kenyans. Many are unemployed and angry over the rising cost of living. The Kenyan government has since suspended new sign-ups for Worldcoin as it investigates whether people’s information is being properly protected.

8 月初，数千名肯尼亚人在内罗毕的一个中心排队，世界币在那里拍摄他们的虹膜图像，以换取价值约 50 美元的 25 个硬币。队伍中包括背着孩子的母亲。一些排队的人告诉当地媒体，在朋友说发放“免费钱”后，他们从很远的地方赶来。他们承认不知道为什么需要扫描虹膜以及这些信息会去哪里。其他等待数小时的人包括受过大学教育的肯尼亚人。许多人失业并对生活成本上涨感到愤怒。此后，肯尼亚政府暂停了世界币的新注册，因为它正在调查人们的信息是否受到适当保护。

Worldcoin’s orbs collect data by taking images of a person’s iris. While Worldcoin argues that the data is used to create a special, secure form of identification, privacy experts have concerns that the company may use the information in other ways, like personalized marketing. That has led some countries to investigate Worldcoin’s operations, including France, Germany and now Kenya. Privacy experts are worried that Worldcoin could, in time, be a victim to criminals, similar to data thefts at other large companies. Privacy experts have said biometric data is already being sold in places like China and that could spread to other places. Last week, Worldcoin discussed the privacy concerns on its website. The company wrote everything is available as a choice and no personal data “is disclosed by default, enabling each holder to decide which (if any) personal data to share with third parties when using World ID.”

世界币的球体通过拍摄人的虹膜图像来收集数据。虽然世界币认为这些数据是用来创建一种特殊的、安全的身份识别形式，但隐私专家担心该公司可能会以其他方式使用这些信息，比如个性化营销。这导致一些国家调查世界币的运营，包括法国、德国和现在的肯尼亚。隐私专家担心，世界币最终可能会成为犯罪分子的受害者，就像其他大公司的数据盗窃一样。隐私专家表示，生物识别数据已经在中国等地出售，并且可能会传播到其他地方。上周，世界币在其网站上讨论了隐私问题。该公司写道，一切都可以作为选择，并且“默认情况下不会披露任何个人数据，使每个持有者能够在使用 World ID 时决定与第三方共享哪些（如果有）个人数据。”