Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner rules that Worldcoin violates privacy regulations and asks to stop collecting iris and facial images

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has completed an investigation into the Worldcoin "Worldcoin" project. The Privacy Commissioner Chung Lai-ling has ruled that the operation of "Worldcoin" in Hong Kong violates the Privacy Ordinance, and has issued an enforcement notice to stop the collection of iris and facial images of the public through iris scanning devices.
The investigation findings revealed that the collection of facial and iris images was unnecessary and excessive in contravention of the data protection principles of the PDPO relating to the collection, retention, transparency, access and correction of personal data. The PCPD considered that the retention of personal data by the Worldcoin for up to 10 years was excessive for the use of artificial intelligence models to train identity verification procedures.