World for all: Key facts about World Network

World is building the largest human network to improve both trust online and access to the global economy in the age of AI.

This kind of ambitious mission naturally leads to questions, which this article helps answer in the hope of inspiring more informed and constructive conversations about the project.

Click the link for a general understanding of what World is and how it works.

It’s as simple as that. Your personal data is stored securely on your phone, and only your phone. 

World has implemented a feature called Personal Custody to ensure all of the information and images used by the Orb to verify your World ID are packaged, sent to your device and permanently deleted from the Orb.

Your data is yours to control, as it should be.

World ID lets you stay anonymous. Your World ID data cannot be tracked back to you or tracked across applications—not even by World. 

Anonymity is possible thanks to the implementation of breakthrough cryptographic enhancements including: 

• Anonymized multi-party computation (AMPC)
• Zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs)

Read more in the Privacy Whitepaper.

World ID verification is freely available to every adult. 

• You never have to pay to verify.
• You do not receive money for verifying.
• Your verification data is never sold (it can’t be, because you own it). 

When you verify your World ID, you can participate in World Network in a variety of ways. This includes a growing ecosystem of Mini Apps that leverage World ID. One such Mini App is called Worldcoin, that gives verified World ID holders the option to claim a free allocation of Worldcoin (WLD)*.

The bottom line is this: World isn’t interested in knowing who you are, only in verifying that you’re human and unique.

World is designed to be open and transparent. The nonprofit World Foundation owns all of the project’s intellectual property (IP) and is taking strides to open source all of its key components.

Notable milestones in open sourcing World Network include:

• Releasing all of the orb’s relevant, hardware-related engineering files
• Open sourcing the project’s iris recognition pipeline
• Open sourcing core components of the Orb’s software
• Updates to the Orb’s open source code
• The updated open source tech tree tracker

World regularly undergoes thorough security audits from trusted third parties and makes the results of these audits freely open to the public. This includes:

• World protocol security audit
• Orb privacy and security audit

Education is key to understanding World and its mission. That’s why World has developed extensive resources to help educate everyone, including:

• The World Help Center
• The Learn Mini App
• World FAQs
• The World Blog

Before verifying your World ID at an Orb, everyone is required to:

• Learn about the Orb and what it does
• Review and agree to all World ID terms and conditions

World Network is open and available to all humans over 18 (sometimes 20) years old. 

To ensure this, a comprehensive, technology-centric and multilayered age verification process has been implemented to deter and prevent underage access:

• App-based age confirmation. During account creation in World App, individuals must confirm they are over the allowed age by entering their date of birth. If a birthdate indicating an age under the allowed age is entered, the individual cannot sign up. 
• Orb-based confirmation. The Orb employs advanced machine learning technology to assess an individual's age during the humanness verification process. If the system detects that the individual is underage, the verification is halted.

This mutilayered approach provides robust protection against underage access, maintaining the integrity and security of the World ecosystem. Additionally, “mystery shoppers” are also regularly used at World Spaces to ensure compliance.

The highest and most secure level of World ID verification is based on your unique iris pattern (it has nothing to do with your retina). 

To fully verify a World ID, the Orb first generates an iris code to ensure uniqueness, then encrypts and divides it before sending the images to your phone and deleting them completely from the Orb itself. 

For more information on World ID verification, click here.

A wealth of information about World Network is available and is consistently being updated on the World website. You can also join the daily conversations on Twitter/X, WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, YouTube and LinkedIn, or sign up for the blog newsletter at the bottom of this page. 

Additional important information concerning the project is available in the World protocol whitepaper.