Some entrepreneurs harvesting biometric data for free crypto

[Woodie]

I just saw some article talk of a silicone valley entrepreneur offering free coins for your iris scan, imagine what or this data collected could affect you and me in this future should you sign up...am certain our governments will be interested parties into such because this is data that can't be easily changed so do such projects have data protection rules and laws to follow and what guarantee is there that they will not sell this data to third parties for their own financial gain??

Some article extracts

Sam Altman has been working on for his new start-up, a company called Worldcoin. Launched out of "stealth" on Thursday, Worldcoin promises to hand out free cryptocurrency to people who verify their accounts by taking an iris scan.

Worldcoin says it's already attracted $25 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase and billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, giving the firm a $1 billion valuation.

Altman, CEO of artificial intelligence group OpenAI and former president of start-up accelerator Y Combinator, co-founded the company with theoretical physics student Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, a former investment associate at Bridgewater Associates.

The idea seems outlandish at first. Free money? And all I need to do is have my eyes scanned? It sounds too good to be true.

Are we crossing the line or this is an innovation to celebrate about?

[NeuroticFish]

Are we crossing the line or this is an innovation to celebrate about?

While a lot of tools lately work with biometric data and they do need test data until they come as final product, hence harvesting biometric data can have a good side too, I fear that this is not enough and sooner or later they can get out in the wild - and getting on government hands is the least evil thing I would think about actually.
So I'd say that they're crossing the line.

[Vaskiy]

Eye scanning have turned to be very secure way of data management. Long back itself this has got implemented on different means. Nowadays mobile phones come with this feature making things more secure. From the post it looks like the firm is trustworthy, because data business is big and now they might need a better thing. When something turns to be unique or innovative, initially it looks like crossing the line. I believe this to be similar, only time can give the briefing whether it can be celebrated or not.

[TravelMug]

Double edge sword I would say, companies could say that they are doing testing and needed this biometrics data. On the other hand the technology that they will build might help and solve problems in the future. I did go on a biometrics scan myself, but it is for a National ID in our country so I'm ok with that. But not sure though if I will volunteer for free and then get some free tokens in return.

[Poker Player]

Eye scanning have turned to be very secure way of data management. Long back itself this has got implemented on different means. Nowadays mobile phones come with this feature making things more secure. From the post it looks like the firm is trustworthy, because data business is big and now they might need a better thing. When something turns to be unique or innovative, initially it looks like crossing the line. I believe this to be similar, only time can give the briefing whether it can be celebrated or not.

That's what I think. The same as the fingerprint on the cell phone. I'm not a big fan of making my data accessible to private companies and, for example, I don't have my cell phone locked with a fingerprint even though I could. But I don't think it's as bad as it might seem at first glance.

[DapanasFruit]

This is actually interesting...and once there can be a good market with this technology and the data they can be able to gather am sure there will be more players on this market. I know that there is already a technology that uses iris scan as the replacement for the passwords we are usually using. Will that be the future of security? Of course, we are concerned so much on the possible security risks involved and the usual unauthorized utilization or monetization of the gathered data. In an increasingly high-tech and changing world, there is that tendency for some - including the government itself -  to sacrifice privacy in the name of a cause...and this is where we should really be careful.

[amishmanish]

If the Evil Orb only ever sees your Iris, there maybe a case to say that it is just a unique identifier of yours which cannot be connected to your real identity. Unfortunately, with how prevalent biometric technology is (for example if you have a passport, their is a "secure" database that has everything), it'll be very easy to connect the two. This means that whatever purported benefit of "reliable identity" the company may flaunt, is false.

Also, why the hell do they need iris scans to distribute a currency? And imagine if this coin becomes huge in value, what comes next. Eye-collectors who use the Iris scans to get more of the "airdrop" by using their victims' eyeballs?

This is just a really stupid, lazy, expensive and ultimately pointless method of bootstrapping a network.

[Anonylz]

What are their intentions with this odd requirement! Why will they request for such data if they have good intention which I seriously doubt, and those people doing this, giving their iris data freely for exchange of crypto, what amount are they paid that will compel them doing this! Honestly people should have limits, or they are being exploited unknowingly, I don't think they understand the implications of their actions.

[avikz]

The idea indeed sounds outlandish at the first glance! Collection of such data indeed requires to comply with a stringent data protection policy under the relevant section of laws. But we need to look at how the data will be used! I am sure worldcoin would not sell that data to people like you and me. Such kind of data has great use in criminology and might become particularly handy for the enforcement agencies and government.

Till the time only willing people are ready to do the iris scan, I think that's ok. No one should be forced!

[Oasisman]

What are their intentions with this odd requirement! Why will they request for such data if they have good intention which I seriously doubt, and those people doing this, giving their iris data freely for exchange of crypto, what amount are they paid that will compel them doing this! Honestly people should have limits, or they are being exploited unknowingly, I don't think they understand the implications of their actions.

This could be an innovation, a next level account security. Just like how we access our mobile phone through finger print scanner and face recognition. However, it's inevitable not to think that this company could sell this essential data to a third party. This is a private company no matter how trustworthy the company is, they are still susceptible to data breach or someone from the inside will secretly sell some selection of datas.

[so98nn]

Could be serious matter. More than billion peeps work in the sector where you can find different biometric punches are applied. In my industry itself we have options for the finger scanner or face scanner. Imagine the whol face being scanned and the data is transmitted to server with all the personal information right away.

For an AI based company this data could be gold mine. They could end up studying our expressions on daily basis, use it study behavioural and periodic changes in the human expressions. Studies like, how the environment affects the body over the period and what not.

Obviously beyond this, they could have access to HD scans of our fingerprints and iris.

This is critical information for the countries where Government ID's are linked.

For example, In India, Aadhaar Card is official Govt. ID which has users information like: Name, Address, Phone Number, PAN Card linked which can let you know all the financial status of user and finally all this linked to the "Finger scans (All fingers), Both eyes and whole face photo".

From the biometric systems if someone got this info then can use it to activate and deactivate different operations. Even if you want to purchase a mobile number then you need to submit your Aadhaar Card along with the Finger print scan. Or if you wanna authorize some steps in banks then you need to do the same.

Now a days that should be counted as sensitive information.

In the future, that's going to be CRITICAL.

[yazher]

The data might be helpful for them that would give them some innovative idea to create a new product or to follow up some old project. Hopefully, no one will steal all those data and use it for their personal gain which will lead to some kind of illegal activities. There are some good things they can use with it but they also need to be careful about what they are about to do because everyone is trying their best to earn from this industry and those bad guys are also on their way to plan their evil plot.

[hazenyc]

Are we crossing the line or this is an innovation to celebrate about?

While a lot of tools lately work with biometric data and they do need test data until they come as final product, hence harvesting biometric data can have a good side too, I fear that this is not enough and sooner or later they can get out in the wild - and getting on government hands is the least evil thing I would think about actually.
So I'd say that they're crossing the line.

I'd agree here with NeuroticFish because a while ago I saw some documentary or so and it was about how the human body can literally be broken down into mathematical equations. While that is great for medical science, the real question is what happens if health insurance companies get their hands on individual data sets? If a certain data set predicts specific health conditions significantly reliably or even only hints to potential health problems, what is going to happen to these individuals' insurance rates? It would completely undermine the idea of a solidly united society.

So the question is: is it possible that the data gets into wrong hands? That question can certainly be answered with yes because as soon as that data is of significant value, rest assured it is accidentally going to be leaked into the wrong hands.

[Woodie]

I'd agree here with NeuroticFish because a while ago I saw some documentary or so and it was about how the human body can literally be broken down into mathematical equations. While that is great for medical science,

I like to binge watch such documentaries once in a while, care to share the link to this doc if can still recall it

the real question is what happens if health insurance companies get their hands on individual data sets? If a certain data set predicts specific health conditions significantly reliably or even only hints to potential health problems, what is going to happen to these individuals' insurance rates? It would completely undermine the idea of a solidly united society.

This just got interesting and am certain insurance companies are among the most invested parties wanting to get hold of such data and should there be a breakthrough using ai or mathematics and the analysis turns out to be highly reliable am afraid some people will be disadvantaged .

So the question is: is it possible that the data gets into wrong hands? That question can certainly be answered with yes because as soon as that data is of significant value, rest assured it is accidentally going to be leaked into the wrong hands.

Data is indeed the new gold and as long as we have humans interacting with this data chances of compromise will always be there unfortunately  because not everyone is aware of the controls and worth of this data.

[eaLiTy]

I just saw some article talk of a silicone valley entrepreneur offering free coins for your iris scan, imagine what or this data collected could affect you and me in this future should you sign up...am certain our governments will be interested parties into such because this is data that can't be easily changed so do such projects have data protection rules and laws to follow and what guarantee is there that they will not sell this data to third parties for their own financial gain??

So the Silicone valley entrepreneur is giving out cryptocurrency and collecting these information and it is strange that there are people who are willing to provide these sensitive information for a few pennies. There is no guarantee that they will not be reselling those information and you cannot take any legal actions against them because you are willfully selling your information.

[electronicash]

I just saw some article talk of a silicone valley entrepreneur offering free coins for your iris scan, imagine what or this data collected could affect you and me in this future should you sign up...am certain our governments will be interested parties into such because this is data that can't be easily changed so do such projects have data protection rules and laws to follow and what guarantee is there that they will not sell this data to third parties for their own financial gain??

So the Silicone valley entrepreneur is giving out cryptocurrency and collecting these information and it is strange that there are people who are willing to provide these sensitive information for a few pennies. There is no guarantee that they will not be reselling those information and you cannot take any legal actions against them because you are willfully selling your information.

i'm almost sure they are going to sell the data.

looks like a very bold way of getting data by fooling people to receive a worthless token. this entrepreneur you are saying is a tech company from silicon valley that sounds like a sci-fi enterprise. iris scan is a very secure data actually. a movie Minority Report was quite related to this kind of sci-fi movie in which the iris data are used for authorities to arrest criminals.

[mardaed]

This is just one of the real manifestations that big data is the most sought after to be gathered by any organizations in today’s modern era. Whether the collected data will be used by the entrepreneur and the organization themselves, or will be sold to third parties, big data can be extremely beneficial. However, challenges can be encountered as well such as data management, and just what was mentioned by others, data privacy is also a concern.

[joniboini]

If someone is "kind enough" to give you some money to do something, chances are they can sell it for more than you'd expect. I second the opinion that this project is going to be another 'Facebook' for the government, where they can ask data secretly. Why on earth would you give away your unique identification for some pennies if it means somebody out there can use it to scam people. No need for blockchain to 'secure your data', keep it offline instead.

[Stefanie302]

The data might be helpful for them that would give them some innovative idea to create a new product or to follow up some old project. Hopefully, no one will steal all those data and use it for their personal gain which will lead to some kind of illegal activities. There are some good things they can use with it but they also need to be careful about what they are about to do because everyone is trying their best to earn from this industry and those bad guys are also on their way to plan their evil plot.

[kryptqnick]

I've seen some other similar news as well, like about a company that would pay people money for monitoring their breathing and pulse while running, but I somehow can't find it right now... It's very disconcerting because it motivates people to basically sell their private data in order to get a bit of money. But then I think about Facebook and other tech giants that get data from us, use it for profit and don't share any of that profit with users, and then I'm not so sure that getting free cryptos for data is a bad thing... We already live in a world where we're giving away lots of data, so we might as well get money for it, maybe.