Data commissioner Kassait on the spot for endorsing Worldcoin activities

The Office of Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has come under fire for giving a certificate of registration outside of the law to Tools for Humanity, a business under which Worldcoin operated.

The information was released by the State Law Office on Wednesday when Attorney General Justin Muturi testified before a National Assembly Adhoc committee looking into Worldcoin activity in Kenya.

The Department of Justice informed parliamentarians that Worldcoin, doing business as Tools for Humanity, lacked the local business license needed by the Companies Act.

“Worldcoin is not registered as a company for whatever purpose in Kenya. An application for registration must be accompanied interalia by a company of establishment documents. The establishment documents include a registration certificate,” Muturi said.

The move to by Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait to issue Tools of Humanity Cooperation a certificate was cited as a glaring omission on the part of ODPC.

“It is to be observed Mr. Chairman that for a foreign country to operate and collect data in the country, the company is required to furnish it’s establishment document to the data commissioner,” said Muturi.

The Department of Justice further pointed out that only one of the eleven local businesses acting as agents for the Worldcoin Project was registered.

One of the regional representatives, Sense Marketing, was listed as a company operating along Langata-Kitengela Road with Kevin Ondumbe as one of the shareholders.

Breach of protocol

MPs questioned why ODPC proceeded to grant the American Firm the certification of registration notwithstanding their violation of the Companies Act rules.

“Essentially a Data Commissioner can’t register unless the documents given to her are document confirming its registration,” Homabay Town MP Peter Kaluma onserved.

“Will I be right to say that Tools for Humanities was not correctly registered in the country and so can we conclude that all activities by the firm in Kenya are completely illegal and therefore very strong legal action should be taken against its associates?” Mbeere North MP Geoffrey Ruku posed.

“Who is responsible in this case on checking the compliance? Where does the mandate of Registrar of Companies start and where does the mandate of the Data Commissioner start?” Nominated MP Umulkheir Harun queried.

Principal State Counsel Karen Ndegwa, noted that a certificate of business registration was a prerequisite for any firm seeking clearance by the Data Commissioner.

“As a foreign company before you embark for certificate processing from the Data Commissioner you must have sought the certificate of business registration system seeking to be compliant with the Kenyan law,” Ndegwa said.

The fresh information came to light a day after the National Computer and Cybercrime Coordination Committee, issued a warning that the Worldcoin project’s online recruitment may be continuing despite a government order to suspend it.

Unclear reason

The agency’s Head of Cyber-security Standards and Policy David Njoka called for quick investigations to determine the true motivation of Worldcoin proponents considering the sensitivity of the data they harvested from Kenyans during his appearance before the National Assembly Adhoc Committee.

“This raises national security concerns given that Kenyans are exposed to external threats from a foreign entity hence the need to protect Kenya’s national interest and protection of citizens,” said Njoka.

He made the claim even as he questioned the security of the data collected by the Worldcoin Project after it was revealed that it was kept in Amazon Web Services’ American data center.

Njoka suggested that the Ministry of Interior and the National Administration, insist on the preservation of the data that has already been gathered in order to conduct a technical evaluation of the data collection, transmission, and processing infrastructure.

“In the event that Worldcoin is in breach of terms and conditions of their registration they should be investigated, prosecuted and issued with administrative fines and other legal sanctions,” he said.

Out of the thirty-four nations where similar operations were launched, Kenyans registered the most subscriptions to the Worldcoin cryptocurrency project.

For the purpose of scanning and gathering iris data for transmission, the American company hired agents stationed across thirty sites in Nairobi.

According to Njoka, Worldcoin pretended to be a research institution before ramping up it’s data processing operations and exploiting credulous Kenyans.

“A week after the launch of Worldcoin cryptocurrency on 22 July, they announced that they have registered over 350,000 Kenyans and in terms of the numbers of data registered globally,” Njoka said noting that entries by Kenyans amounted to 25% of the overall data collected.

8 billion goal

In order to build a universal worldwide economy, Worldcoin had set a target of registering 8 billion users on it’s cryptocurrency network. Users are authenticated via retina/iris scans.

After signing contracts with their local businesses, Platinum De Plus Limited, EXP Kenya, and Sense Marketing, the company operated in Kenya through local salespeople Wangechi Maina and Rael Mwende.

Thousands of individuals flocked to many sign-up locations throughout the Nairobi city as Worldcoin offered those who registered twenty five free tokens valued approximately KSh7,000.

In the middle of July, thousands of Kenyans flocked to Nairobi’s Kenyatta International Conference Center to get their eyes scanned.

The initiative, according to it’s creators, intends to address one of the major issues the cryptocurrency sector is now facing since it heavily relies on pseudonyms to function, making it susceptible to spam bots and scams.

According to the company’s website, more than 2.1 million people have registered for Worldcoin worldwide, and iris scans have been performed in thirty four nations.

According to CoinMarketCap, Worldcoin is now selling at $2.37, up from it’s starting price of $1.70.