Worldcoin’s less ‘dystopian,’ more cypherpunk rival: Billions Network

Could using ZK-proofs to verify IDs help resolve privacy concerns related to the UK’s Digital ID and Australia’s social media age limits?

The idea behind Worldcoin (now called World) is an excellent one: without some way to verify human-based accounts, the internet will be completely overrun with AI bots.

To a large extent, it already is: More than half of web traffic now comes from unidentified accounts, and Facebook and X are drowning in AI slop and pointless reply guys. More worryingly, hostile countries are using AI bots and content to divide the population of open and democratic societies.

And if you are already worried about the UK’s mandatory digital ID plan, then World ID should also be on your radar. Apart from those creepy eyeball scanning Orbs, is it really a good idea to implement a global identity system co-founded by the CEO of the worlds largest private company, OpenAI?

The project has raised significant privacy and ethical concerns, with Canadian public broadcaster CBC describing Worlds aims as utopian but not without raising dystopian fears. Techmonitor and CoinDesk have both reported that critics of the project call it “Orwellian.”

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