Sam Altman's Worldcoin Fined $829K in South Korea for Breaking Personal Information Protection Laws

Ever since its launch in July 2023, Sam Altman's digital currency project, WorldCoin, has been in trouble with regulators worldwide.

Digital currency project WorldCoin, founded by Sam Altman, has had a rocky start since its launch in July 2023. The project has faced regulatory hurdles and encountered problems with authorities in several countries.

Now, WorldCoin has been slapped with a fine of KRW 1.1 billion (around US$829,000) by authorities in South Korea. The fine was imposed due to violations of personal information protection laws, as per the Personal Information Protection Commission (PICP).

Among the violations were failing to inform users about the purpose of data collection and its retention period, failing to notify users that their data would be transferred to a foreign country, not introducing a process for the deletion of sensitive data, and failing to implement age verification to stop children under 14 from using the app.

The South Korean government began investigating WorldCoin in February after becoming aware that it may be dishing out digital tokens in exchange for sensitive biometric data. WorldCoin responded to the outcome by saying it resulted from “months of constructive dialogue.” Clearly, the firm believes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Anyone who has paid attention for the past decade will be well aware of the many trust violations committed by big tech companies in possession of personal user data. Firms like Meta (NASDAQ: META) have been fined billions by the European Union, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and others, while data breaches have rocked Equifax and other big companies. This has led to a widespread erosion of trust in big firms’ ability to store and manage data safely.

Sam Altman’s WorldCoin is yet another example of how big tech fancies itself above the laws of sovereign nations, doing as it pleases and paying the relatively small fines later. While it claims to use blockchain technology to store users’ biometric data securely, that claim means very little since the chain isn’t public, and barely anything has been confirmed publicly regarding how it works.

While public blockchains like BSV have shown how the tech can be used for secure data storage, management, and transfer, the much-needed transparency and trust blockchain offers are lost when private companies operate in what are effectively walled gardens.

As a permissioned blockchain built on top of Ethereum, World Chain does not allow anyone to become a node on the network, so it’s effectively a black box, and there’s no way for anyone other than those in the Worldcoin node club to verify what’s happening on its blockchain.

In other related news, Sam Altman’s other venture, OpenAI, has seen one of the most significant waves of resignations in corporate history when its CTO, Mira Murati, followed three other top executives out the door this week.

According to Reuters, the crux of OpenAI’s wave of resignations is its plan to morph into a for-profit corporation free from the control of its non-profit board. While Altman denied that he would receive an equity stake in the firm, saying, “There are no current plans there,” skeptics believe it’s on the cards and is part of the reason for the recent talent exodus.