The German organization behind the Worldcoin project has so far collected over 400,000 Kenyans' facial and iris data and this has raised concern about the authenticity of the project to not breach consumer's data privacy policy.
Seeing that this is properly followed, Members of the Kenyan have questioned two cabinet ministers about the Worldcoin operation in Kenya and how it has been setting up shops to obtain data from the citizens.
However, the response from the two ministers varied as lack of professionalism—While the responses from Eliud Owalo, cabinet secretary for ICT and the digital economy, and Kithure Kindiki, interior ministry colleague, still lack points, the individuals will be subjected to another round of questioning in a week to provide more clarity on the overall situation.
Kenya's cabinet secretary for ICT and digital economy, Eliud Owalo, was questioned today regarding Worldcoin's operations in Kenya. According to Owalo, the corporation unlawfully gathered iris data, and there are intentions to retain that data before an assessment of the case is conducted.
Worldcoin Data Controller Has Its Limit
According to Owalo, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) in Kenya has registered Worldcoin as a data controller. The license, however, did not suggest that Worldcoin was permitted to process user data in Kenya; the ODPC granted the certificate just to establish that Worldcoin was acknowledged in Kenya.- “The certificate simply signifies that an entity is known to the ODPC and that it processes personal data of persons located in Kenya. Further, it does not amount to certification of the processing activities of the entity or serve as an endorsement from the ODPC of an entity’s compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act or any other laws, including but not limited to the constitution of Kenya 2010,” Owalo explained.
The cabinet secretary went on to say that the ODPC awarded the certificate to Worldcoin after it provided the relevant paperwork “pursuant to the registration regulations”.
Read more: https://www.investingport.com/kenyan-govt-accuses-worldcoin-of-illegally-collecting-biometric-data/