In a blog post, the Worldcoin Foundation revealed that it has made open-source components of the software that runs its iris-scanning Orbs available to the public.According to the announcement, the fundamental components of the Orb software are available on GitHub under an MIT/Apache 2.0 dual licence.The new open-source components “complement” the hardware that was previously released.The version includes Orb-specific functionality for taking photographs and securely uploading them to the product’s app.Worldcoin stated that its publicly available software and iris recognition repositories represent “significant progress” in ensuring openness for the Orb’s image processing, as well as provable privacy assurances.
In addition to releasing more of the software that powers the infamous metallic, eye-scanning Orb, Worldcoin unveiled a new privacy feature called “Personal Custody.”Individual users can now self-custody data given to Worldcoin via a data package signed with the Orb’s private key and encrypted with a user-provided public key before it is delivered to their mobile phone.
The developer said this means that users will “always remain in control of their data,” and only the individual can decrypt this biometric data. Worldcoin said.
“Once the encrypted data is sent from the Orb to the individual’s World App, no unencrypted copies of this data exist anywhere.”
According to the creator, the feature may reduce the amount of times users need to return to an Orb to validate their World ID.
This change to Worldcoin comes as the corporation is under review from worldwide regulators over privacy concerns.On March 21, the Kenyan government declined a plea from the US government to lift its suspension of the Worldcoin initiative.The government stated that Worldcoin activities would be prohibited in the country unless assurances of the Kenyan people’s safety and the integrity of financial details were provided.On March 18, Worldcoin stated on its blog that it works “lawfully in all of the locations in which it is available” and is fully compliance with all laws and regulations governing data collection and transfer.
However, it faced additional pushback earlier in March.This time, the Spanish Data Protection Agency demanded that Worldcoin stop collecting and processing data locally and halted its activities temporarily.Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the startup that developed the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, co-founded Worldcoin.OpenAI is also under fire for refusing to open-source the code for its AI models.