Maintaining Digital Security Space, People Must Also Be Technology Literacy

JAKARTA – Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) Meutya Hafid announced that he had frozen the cryptocurrency management application or the World App. The public is asked to be more tech literate in order to be able to verify whether a service has the potential to be detrimental or not.

In the last few days, the Indonesian people have been shocked by the news about the practice of scanning the retina. They received cash rewards ranging from IDR 250,000 to IDR 800.000.

This eye phenomenon is part of the Worldcoin project, run by Tools for Humanity (TFH) which was also founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and based in San Francisco, United States.

Worldcoin offers World ID as a digital identity, which is obtained by scanning eye slices through Orb’. This identity is used to verify a person as a real person, not a bot or AI.

A shophouse in the Grand Boulevard area, Pusaka Rakyat Village, Tarumajaya District, Bekasi Regency is crowded with people. Most of them deliberately came to scan their eyes for money.

Apart from Bekasi, a shophouse in Depok is also a place to scan people’s retinal eyes. According to the public’s confession, they use eye skinretina money to meet their daily needs.

However, the phenomenon of scanning eye slices exchanged for digital coins or cryptocurrencies raises concerns, especially regarding privacy and management of biometric data, as stated by cybersecurity expert and Chairman of the Cyber Security Research Institute (CISSReC), Pratama Persadha.

He said that until now the designation of biometric data is still unclear. “If it’s scam (fraud) or not, we know Sam Altman and some of his co-founders are trusted people. So I don’t think it’s possible to scam,” said Pratama.

“But if we use our data for other things, we don’t know yet, what will the iris data be used for later,” he added.

Pratama added, in the future TFH must clarify the usefulness of this biometric data to the public. They must also be open whether they have verified, namely ensuring whether the tools used are reliable and have the potential to steal biometric data or not.

“They will use (for) what our data is, it is not clear, that must be clarified. There is no “free lunch” on the internet. No one gives free money without expecting anything from us,” explained Pratama.

In addition, the government must also ensure whether the system carried out by TFH in scanning and storing community data is correct or not. Pratama is worried that community data will be used for things that are not right.

Cyber law expert at the University of Indonesia, Edmon Makarim, also responded to the World App polemic. He agrees with the assumption that the incoming retinal data has the potential to be misused.

Retina is a biometric or authentication based on a person’s physical or unique characteristics. Edmon said that biometrics is attached to a person’s body. So that the basic area is the personal property of the person concerned. “If there is no basis for need, don’t ask,” said Edmon.

For this reason, he asked the Indonesian government through Komdigi to ban the application, as other countries do.

For information, Spain became the first country to ban Worldcoin’s biometric data collection. They began banning it on March 18, 2024. Then on May 22, 2024, it was Hong Kong’s turn to stop all Worldcoin operations in its territory.

South Korea is also known to have stopped World Coin operations. Meanwhile, the European Union is investigating and stopping eye retinal scanning activity.

The Indonesian government has taken a firm stance and step regarding retinal scanning activities by World Coin and World ID services. Through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, the government temporarily recorded operational permits for the two services on May 4, 2025.

In addition to the government’s temporary steps to freeze an onal operating permit, the public is also asked to help maintain a safe and reliable digital space for all citizens.

The Ministry of Communication and Trade invites the public to remain vigilant against any form of illegal digital services and report alleged violations through the official public complaint channel.

Digital expert Bruce Schneier emphasized that in maintaining a secure digital space, it is important to have public awareness and participation in protecting personal data. According to him, cybersecurity is not only about technology, but also about humans and processes.

Therefore, the public must play an active role in maintaining the security of digital spaces and protecting their personal data.

“Every individual must try to be “tech literate” in order to be able to verify whether a service contains malicious intent through destructive software or malware,” wrote Dr. Eko Wahyuanto, Lecturer of the Multimedia School STMM-MMTC Yogjakarta, in the column between.

“People must also be aware of any business that involves personal data due to identity theft and video manipulation,” he said.

The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
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