- According to the Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, the scanning technology employed by Worldcoin may have inadvertently exposed Kenyan citizens to potential health risks.
- For over one year running, the project scanned 350,000 eyeballs from Kenyans.
- “We followed all the right protocols and worked with among the best lawyers in Kenya. I think the government just wanted to look deeply to essentially understand what happened.”
The Worldcoin project has quickly turned into a saga in Kenya, following the recent accusations of the possible health threats that the project poses. According to the Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, the scanning technology employed by Worldcoin may have inadvertently exposed Kenyan citizens to potential health risks.
For over one year running, the project scanned 350,000 eyeballs from Kenyans, encouraged by the Ksh. 7000 (roughly) that they were offering. The CS has since advised all those who had registered for the Worldcoin project to seek medical attention if they experience any unusual health conditions.
“As indicated, there may be Kenyans out there already experiencing different complications or changes in their bodies after undergoing the Worldcoin scan, “she said. “We would like to urge them to report to the nearest facilities to undergo an in-depth examination.”
Interior Ministry issues a crackdown on Worldcoin
The Kenyan government has in the last two weeks gone into a slew of harsh directives. The interior CS, Kithure Kindiki issued a directive for Worldcoin to halt people’s registration in the country. The government further appointed a parliamentary committee to investigate the possible threats around Worldcoin, a debate that aroused heavy emotions on the floor of the 13th House. The parliament, however, blamed the government for the lack of care for the security of the country, as the project had been running for over a year.
The CEO and Co-founder of Tools For Humanity, Alex Blania, has come out to speak on the project, attempting to shed light on Worldcoin developments that have been surfacing in Kenya.
Read: Kenya suspends Worldcoin iris scan registration
What does the Worldcoin project entail
Alex Blania: Worldcoin is designed to be a fully open protocol. Everything we do as Tools for Humanity is open source. We started the project to monitor the development of AI, as our project focuses on proving humans from robots on the internet. Also, we are coming up with a Universal Basic Income. AI systems create a lot of wealth and we have to make that available to as many people as possible. Additionally, we want to create a democratic governance over AI systems, and empower people through cryptocurrency; as digital currency is capable of creating a more powerful global financial system.
Worldcoin token gives crypto ownership to all the people in the World, if they decide to claim it, accompanied with a unique World ID that can verify real humans online.
Tell us about the Orb, a device that has caused a lot of controversy in Kenya over privacy concerns
Alex Blania: If you want to join the Worldcoin project, you have to verify at Orb scan. We developed the device to solve the technical problem of proof of personhood. Bots are becoming more and more involved and powerful, and we have to set them apart from humans. There is no proof of personhood on the internet. We think it will be required and that is where the Orb comes in.
The orb does two things. It first verifies that you are an actual human being, and also generates an iris code that is undoubtedly unique. To answer the question, the ID code is the only thing leaving the device. The Iris itself is fully separated from your later Worldcoin account. A person can use their digital ID and we won’t know who they are, but we will know that they are a unique real human
We need to compare uniqueness against billions of people, and the Orb is the only known technology that can do that effectively.
Why did Worldcoin identify Kenya as one of the key markets to pioneer the launch in Africa?
Alex Blania: Kenya is one of the most important markets in the world right now. The economy is quickly growing, there is a lot of innovation going on, and the previous progress we have seen in the country such as M- PESA. Additionally, the number of crypto users in the country is quickly increasing. I visited many universities in Nairobi and I was surprised at the in-depth understanding that the students have on cryptocurrency.
Other than the recent altercation with the government, the launch of the project in Kenya turned out well.
Were there measures put in place to deal with potential outcomes such as the one in Kenya
Alex Blania: First, Worldcoin encourages regulators to try to understand things as that is exactly why they exist. We understand that this technology is very complicated. In Kenya, we have been in touch with a lot of regulators for years. It was very surprising to us, and the government, about how explosive the launch was. The project must have hit the headlines so hard that everyone needed to take a step back and understand what the project meant.
We followed all the right protocols and worked with among the best lawyers in Kenya. I think the government just wanted to look deeply to essentially understand what happened.
What has your organization learned from the Kenya experience
Alex Blania: Kenya is technological-oriented. I am happy that many Kenyans have embraced our innovation. My social media platforms are full of Kenyans saying thank you. What we have learned from Kenya about the global operation is that we have to start where new technology gets embraced.
We have a high priority to respond to questions that come from Kenyans and Kenyan regulators as we want to get back live in Kenya. It is important to allow the citizens to verify their Worldcoin IDs if they want. We will work with the government as proactively as we can to respond to questions that might be. Additionally, we will take precautions that they may want us to take.
Conclusion
There is a chance that the Worldcoin project may come back to the country despite the current government stance. However, the CEO did not directly respond to the health threat concern question posed by the health Cabinet Secretary. Kenyans are waiting to see the report that the appointed parliamentary committee will come up with regarding the Worldcoin project.
