The open-sourcing of the Orb software was accompanied by the launch of a new feature called “Personal Custody” on Worldcoin.
The Worldcoin Foundation, the organization overseeing the growth and management of the crypto project Worldcoin, has open-sourced the core components of its iris scanning software, Orb.
Orb was created to enable individuals to verify their humanity online and is now accessible to the public on GitHub under a dual MIT/Apache 2.0 license.
Worldcoin Moves to Increase Transparency
According to a recent blog post, the newly open-sourced elements of Orb complement the project’s previously released hardware.
Worldcoin said these parts of Orb, which have been made available on GitHub, include written codes for the iris scanning software, which is responsible for capturing images and transferring them to the World App.
The components currently open to the public include Orb-core, Orb-attest, Orb-secure elements, Orb-messages, and Orb-firmware. The foundation also disclosed that making the code public is part of its move to increase transparency and foster inclusion.
Worldcoin to Open-source More Components of Orb
The crypto project has always maintained that it protects users’ biometric data. However, with the software now accessible to the public, people can verify the platform’s privacy claim.
“This initial release of the Orb’s software is an important step towards the goals[13] of improving the transparency and verifiability of the Orb,” said the Worldcoin Foundation.
While the foundation primarily focuses on privacy in the new release, the organization aims to broaden its focus on various aspects of Orb Software.
The planned expansion includes:
- Prioritizing maximal open development.
- Addressing untrusted closed-source components.
- Facilitating support for decentralized audits.
Worldcoin said the upcoming components seek to help bring security, privacy, and transparency to many other crypto projects, especially those running machine learning on edge devices.
Worldcoin Unveils “Personal Custody” Feature
The open-sourcing of the Orb software was accompanied by the launch of a new feature called “Personal Custody” on Worldcoin.
The newly launched feature empowers individuals to take control of their data shared with Worldcoin through a data package signed with the Orb’s private key. The data is then encrypted with a user-provided public key before it is transferred to the user’s mobile phone. Worldcoin said that with this feature, users will have the opportunity to safeguard and control their information. The crypto project, heavily associated with OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, disclosed that only the designated user can decrypt the biometric data.
“Once the encrypted data is sent from the Orb to the individual’s World App, no unencrypted copies of this data exist anywhere,” WorldCoin said.
This personal feature has been designed to limit the number of times an individual needs to access the Orb to verify their World ID.