LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - A German data watchdog has been investigating OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Worldcoin project since late last year due to concerns over its large-scale processing of sensitive biometric data, the regulator's president told Reuters.
Will said the Bavarian state regulator is the lead authority investigating Worldcoin under the European Union's data protection rules because Tools For Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, has a German subsidiary there.
This leads to a number of risks, including whether users have given explicit consent to their highly-sensitive biometric data being processed on the basis of "sufficient and clear" information, Will said.
Privacy campaigners have long raised concerns about the wide-scale collection and storage of biometric data, which could increase surveillance or target certain demographic groups.
France's privacy watchdog told Reuters on Friday that the legality of Worldcoin's data collection "seems questionable".
Persons:
Sam Altman's Worldcoin, Worldcoin, Michael Will, Will, Elizabeth Howcroft, Louise Heavens
Organizations:
Reuters, Bavarian State Office, Data Protection, Humanity, Worldcoin, Thomson
Locations:
Bavarian, German, Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Spain