Sam Altman's Worldcoin Wants To Scan Eyeballs in Exchange for Crypto (techcrunch.com) 36
As investors race to capitalize on surging interest in cryptocurrencies, startups are getting creative in how they onboard a generation of crypto users to their first wallets. From a report: Worldcoin is perhaps one of the most audacious efforts to bribe the world to embrace their currency. The startup, founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Alex Blania, wants to put a crypto wallet (and some of their currency) onto every human's smartphone, but in order to do so they have to build a way to determine whether someone is a unique human. Worldcoin is aiming to make their proof-of-personhood network in the least dystopian way possible, that being said, it still requires scanning a billion people's eyeballs with a 5-pound chromatic sphere called "The Orb."
The internet has developed with a very amorphous mesh of user networks. Bot networks operate alongside real people using their real identities, alongside users impersonating real people, alongside pseudonymous users. This can be a recipe for misaligned user incentives, as modern social media platforms have showcased, but when it comes to finance it can also be a recipe for fraud and inequality. Worldcoin wants to avoid all of that while ensuring equitable distribution of their currency, ensuring that each human on earth only signs up for one wallet in their network. Worldcoin CEO Alex Blania tells TechCrunch that the currency is part of a larger effort to drive a more unified and equitable global economy driven by the internet economy, something cryptocurrencies notably haven't nailed in their first several years.
The internet has developed with a very amorphous mesh of user networks. Bot networks operate alongside real people using their real identities, alongside users impersonating real people, alongside pseudonymous users. This can be a recipe for misaligned user incentives, as modern social media platforms have showcased, but when it comes to finance it can also be a recipe for fraud and inequality. Worldcoin wants to avoid all of that while ensuring equitable distribution of their currency, ensuring that each human on earth only signs up for one wallet in their network. Worldcoin CEO Alex Blania tells TechCrunch that the currency is part of a larger effort to drive a more unified and equitable global economy driven by the internet economy, something cryptocurrencies notably haven't nailed in their first several years.
So then... (Score:5, Interesting)
As investors race to capitalize on surging interest in cryptocurrencies, startups are getting creative in how they onboard a generation of crypto users to their first wallets
So in order to "capitalize" on people's FOMO, they want them to give up some of their personal biometric data.
In other words, they want to be a Privacy Rapist, just like Facebook?
Re: (Score:1)
If they wanted to be a "rapist" they'd be scanning the other part.
Re:So then... (Score:4, Funny)
In other words, they want to be a Privacy Rapist
Since there is a payment involved, it is Privacy Prostitution.
Stupid. (Score:4, Insightful)
Sam Altman can kiss my plebeian ass.
Re: (Score:2)
He will, but he first wants to scan it with his orb.
Outdated (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
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You know, people will pay good money for either of those.
Re: (Score:2)
Scanning eyeballs is so old school. Rectal suction is the preferred method now.
I thought the next big thing was supposed to be colonic mapping...
Retinal scan (Score:2)
The result of a retinal scan is just a digital sequence of ones and zeroes. Having such a sequence does not prove that you are human.
Re:Retinal scan (Score:4, Informative)
So, since they control this scanning hardware, this is a step or two more controlled than, say, the face scanner on the iPhone, which as far as I can tell has worked very well in the real world. Its release was accompanied with the inevitable tidal wave of "what could possibly go wrong"-type posts and articles, all backed up in the subsequent years with approximately zero evidence of the predicted catastrophe actually occurring.
Re: (Score:2)
Its release was accompanied with the inevitable tidal wave of "what could possibly go wrong"-type posts and articles, all backed up in the subsequent years with approximately zero evidence of the predicted catastrophe actually occurring.
The problem with iPhones is that you need the actual device to get through the face scanner. Physical ownership is enough to keep other people from breaking in, most of the time.
Forget Retinal Scans! (Score:2)
Do what AndyKron suggests above: Rectal Scans!
Re: (Score:2)
The result of a retinal scan is just a digital sequence of ones and zeroes. Having such a sequence does not prove that you are human.
No, but it proves a previous account has or hasn't been opened with that scan.
What's that smell? (Score:2)
The barnyard aroma of Business Speak bullshit in TFA is overwhelming. I wouldn't trust these guys as far as I could throw...well, throw a bull.
HARVESTER OF EYES (Score:3)
because that's how you get criminal gangs stealing peoples' eyes.
fake eye (Score:2)
Can it tell a real human eye from a fake? Or a eye from a cadaver?
https://prankalot.com/product/... [prankalot.com]
Don't ask why I keep an eye in a jar.
Re: (Score:2)
CadaverCoin (Score:1)
Do this and cadaver prices would go TO THE MOON!
One word: CadaverCoin
Seriously? The Orb? (Score:2)
Scanning eyeballs is creepy enough. They ensure us it only stores the hash, not the pattern... but they're a bit loose on how that works. It can't be a hash of a bitmap picture, because that would change a bit every time you took the picture. It has to be a hash of some encoding of the retinal scan that doesn't change. OK but how does this all look from a marketing perspective? That picture of those people being scanned... it's dystopian as all get out. Seriously. Do they get that science fiction fea
Dear Fed (Score:2)
Are pets allowed? (Score:3)
Sounds Kinda Fun (Score:3)
And not dystopian at all. I mean it actually sounds a lot less dystopian than having to carry around an ID. It's just the worldwide computer version of recognizing what someone looks like...except you have to consent (or at least know if you've been held down and forced) to be scanned.
My concern is with restablishing that identity later. I mean, sure maybe they tested their hash with a few thousand people over a few years but what happens to my eyes in ten years? What if I get glaucoma or cataracts? Take meds that affect blood vessels? etc..
But my bigger concern is theft by contractors. One of the reasons we trust banks is that not only do they have mechanisms for detecting fraud at POS they have developed extensive internal controls to track insiders and limit employee theft.
Frankly, I'd be much more recieptive to a digital cash system that contracted with a big bank to do backup identity verification. I already need to prove who I am to my bank to get them to issue me a new debit card or withdraw money so why not have them do this as well?
Re: Sounds Kinda Fun (Score:2)
To clarify...one of the benefits of using images or looks to establish identity is that it's continuous. Maybe age changes my appearence but when that happens my bank can recognize that I still look alot like the account holder and just require a bit more verification.
A hash (rather than a picture) is necessarily non-continuous (or it would be reversible). That means there is some degree of change beyond which it's just going to be totally different. That makes it worrisome.
It's an incredibly stupid idea (Score:2)
Essentially what he's proposing is to create identities based on bio-metrics. If you don't think about that for more than a minute it makes perfect sense. After all, most people only have 2 irises so they can get at most 2 accounts.
However it is very simple to fake irises (or vein images, or whatever) with very little effort. Any graphical artist can throw together a bunch of layers in their favorite paint program which can be used to generate thousands of such images. Computers can easily automate that pro
3D Printers (Score:2)
Does anyone doubt that in a few years you will be able to scan someone's eye and then 3D Print a model eye that will pass the scanner?
Security has (at a minimum) two factors, identification and authorization -- think User ID and Password. Biometrics are great at identification, you carry it around with you and you can't lose it (unless you're disfigured or something) but it's terrible for authentication because if your biometrics get compromised you can't change them. People who can't understand this simple
Why only a single account? (Score:2)
Why can I only have a single account? I don't have a single bank account or a single credit card. What if I want a personal account and an account shared with my wife, or my kids? What if I want an investment account, or to put an account into my RRSP (IRA)? What if I want a corporate account (or several) for my business? What if I want to setup a separate account to save up for something really expensive, like a Tesla or a GPU? etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, exactly. Everyone is focusing on the biometric iris-scanning gimmick (which has its own legitimate issues), but to me it's the underlying principle of enforcing at most one account per human being that seems fundamentally flawed. The ability to have multiple accounts per person, shared accounts, or even anonymous accounts is a feature, not a bug. Evaluated as a currency and a payment network, they've created a system which is strictly less capable than others which already exist with many active users.
And I want to have sex with Jennifer Anniston (Score:2)
Looks like neither of us is getting what we want.
What am I missing? (Score:2)
https://coin360.com/coin/world... [coin360.com]