Brazil’s data protection authority, ANPD, has told Tools for Humanity, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, to stop paying people for iris scans. This ban starts Saturday and is part of an investigation that began last November.
Tools for Humanity runs the World project, which uses iris scans to build a global identity system. It gives out digital IDs and cryptocurrency as rewards. The ANPD is worried that paying people might pressure them into sharing their biometric data. The agency also asked the company to state on its website who handles the collected data.
The company, which has faced similar problems in Spain and Portugal, follows Brazilian laws. Tools for Humanity is now working with the ANPD to ensure Brazilians can keep using the World network.
In response, World noted inaccuracies in recent reports and social media discussions, asserting that these have led to misinformation being presented to the ANPD. However, no further details were shared.
About 500,000 Persons Sold Their Iris Scans to the Company
The World project, which uses iris scans as a high-tech “digital fingerprint” to tell humans apart from lifelike robots, has caught on in São Paulo. This is Brazil’s biggest city and one of 18 worldwide where the project is active. For many locals, it became a way to make some extra cash—around BRL 600 ($101) in cryptocurrency, based on last Friday’s exchange rate.
However, starting this Saturday (25th), the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has ruled that the project can no longer pay participants. However, during operations, the company managed to capture about 500,000 iris scans for those who accepted to join the project.
Word of mouth and social media quickly spread the news about this opportunity. Many posts, especially on TikTok, talk about “selling an iris photo.” The last participant count, 10 days ago, was “over 400,000.” Back in early November, when the project restarted in São Paulo after testing in 2023, there were 115,000 participants.
