- After announcing new financing last week, privacy activists reacted with scepticism to Sam Altman’s Worldcoin initiative, which promises to deliver a UBI to worldwide people willing to have their retinas scanned
- Worldcoin’s assertion that its centralised database of hashed iris scans was not a privacy issue was debunked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
- Apple, the self-proclaimed Big Tech privacy champion, has thrown a megaton bomb on data-hungry business models by making opting out of monitoring easy and desirable for iOS users
After announcing new financing last week, privacy activists reacted with scepticism to Sam Altman’s Worldcoin initiative, which promises to deliver a UBI to worldwide people willing to have their retinas scanned. When he first heard about Worldcoin in June, he slammed it for the scary implications of collecting biometric data from the world’s impoverished. Altman’s endeavour to construct the CIA’s wet dream has received a $25 million boost from various digital currency bodies.
Worldcoin has a $1 billion value thanks to the quarter in the piggy bank, demonstrating exactly how ludicrous the VC shell game can go. The news of increased funding was met with further opposition, this time on the same grounds as in July, but from far more powerful actors. Worldcoin’s assertion that its centralised database of hashed iris scans was not a privacy issue was debunked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
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According to Snowden, biometrics should never be used for identification or security, since the human body is not a ticket-punch. What makes this comment so stunning (and, in my opinion, deceptive) is that it was made in the midst of possibly the most pivotal period in the history of Web 2.0 enterprises that rely on data collecting. Altman served as president of Y Combinator, probably the top Silicon Valley startup incubator, from 2014-19, and is well-versed in the Web 2.0 data-mining industry. If one goes to YC’s portfolio page, they can see a lot of terms like machine learning, AI, and computer vision, which are nearly always code for we’re going to use user data.
That paradigm has been the target of a vicious, long-awaited reaction in recent weeks. Facebook is in the midst of a struggle for its existence that, in a country with a functioning legislature, would be a death sentence, Haugen has released reams of internal papers revealing that Facebook officials, including Mark Zuckerberg, utilised the company’s huge data-gathering operation in ways that were both harmful for society and good for the company’s profit line. Meanwhile, Apple, the self-proclaimed Big Tech privacy champion, has thrown a megaton bomb on data-hungry business models by making opting out of monitoring easy and desirable for iOS users. Users have flocked to them in droves, putting a dent on Facebook and Snapchat’s ad income right away.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.