Worldcoin, a company that verifies human identitya in the digital world in exchange for a financial reward, returns to the center of the controversy. This time, the Province of Buenos Aires, governed by Axel Kicillof, charged the firm and now it could be fined $1 billion.
The controversial company became famous for the process that involves verification to ensure that the user is truly human and is carried out through what the company calls “The Orb”, a digital reader that scans iris biometrics in seconds. Thus, by providing a biometric iris scan, Worldcoin rewards users with a sum of their cryptocurrency, which is equivalent to about $50.
As he was able to know Ambitthe accusation is for alleged abusive clauses. After the summons, the company did not respond satisfactorily. and would have incurred contradictions, such as in the scanning of biometric data of minors.
This happened after the Provincial Directorate for the Defense of Consumer Rights detected the inclusion of abusive clauses incorporated in the adhesion contracts that require acceptance, andn alleged violation of the National Consumer Protection Law. The Buenos Aires authorities also noted contradictions between what was reported by the company itself and the information obtained from inspections carried out in different locations in the Province.
The Province’s investigation
The inspections carried out by the Province determined that the company does not display signs indicating that the minimum age requirement to access the service is 18 yearswhich would imply the scanning of personal data of minors.
The surveys also discovered contradictions in what was reported by the company regarding the use, protection and storage of the biometric data collected from the faces and eyes of Argentine users, private information that, apparently, would be stored in Brazil.
Among the various abusive clauses detected are those that enable the company to interrupt the service without any type of repair or refund. And also those that force users to renounce collective claims and establish that the applicable regulations, for residents of Argentinabe foreign laws, in this case, of the Cayman Islands, in addition to indicating that any disputes be resolved through arbitration in California, United States, violating what is expressly established by the Civil and Commercial Code of the Nation.
“One may wonder if biometric data is stored or deleted immediately.if there are databases where the personal data of users in Argentina are saved and stored,” he observes. Ariel AguilarUndersecretary of Commercial Development and Investment Promotion of the Province, an organization on which the Provincial Directorate for the Defense of Consumer Rights depends.
“The complexity of these contracts, the novelty of the operation deployed, the legal good that is at stake and the lack of information, prevent us from understanding clearly and fully the rules and the functioning of this entire operation,” adds Aguilar.
Thus, the company, which is exposed to fines of up to 1,000 million pesos, carried out its activities in the Buenos Aires towns of Morón, Mar del Plata, Avellaneda, La Matanza, José C. Paz, Florencio Varela, Quilmes, San Miguel , Pinamar, Tres de Febrero, Villa Gesell, La Costa, La Plata, Berisso, San Martín, Zárate, Malvinas Argentinas, Escobar, General Rodríguez, Vicente López, La Matanza, Ezeiza and Almirante Brown, where he called on consumers to provide personal and private biometric data – the scanning of the iris of the eye and the face, with a technological device called Orb –, in exchange for installing the World App finance application on the phone and receiving cryptocurrencies from the Worldcoin firm.
“With these surveys and accusations, the duty to control the adhesion contracts is fulfilled, ordering to modify, adapt or delete the abusive clauses, in compliance with our current regulations. The Province defends the rights of consumers,” stated the PBA.
Source: Ambito
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