That’s why the Privacy Guarantor warns against the metaverse
"The risk is that the freedom to shape one's own world, promised by the metaverse, is only apparent and hides, instead, a heterodirection of choices induced by microtargeting", according to the Privacy Guarantor
In the metaverse we are at risk of "a veritable cultural hegemony" in the absence of adequate correctives.
This was stated by the Guarantor for the protection of personal data, Pasquale Stanzione , who spoke on 30 January at the conference "The Metaverse between utopias and dystopias: horizons and challenges of data protection".
So far the metaverse and its adoption has been the subject of much debate, since it is still in its early stages. According to Gartner, by 2026, one in four people will spend at least an hour a day in this virtual (also collective) space, where physical and digital reality converge in an immersive experience, capable of even restoring sensory perceptions.
The metaverse, as a new dimension not only in space-time but also in existence, has shifting borders and will re-propose opportunities but also risks and problems that have emerged with the "traditional" internet, underlined the Privacy Guarantor. "The personalization of the contents of the Metaverse will probably allow new instances of protection to emerge, in the face of new vulnerabilities and even new subjectivities, such as that of the digital twin into which our ego will be projected", Stanzione highlighted.
All the details.
WHAT THE METAVERSE WILL BE LIKE ACCORDING TO THE PRIVACY GUARANTOR
According to the president of the authority "it will be a dimension (also articulated on multiple platforms) characterized by a persistent, three-dimensional and therefore even more credible, ubiquitous and transversal interactivity, in which it is possible to act and interact through holograms which constitute real own digital vias of the self. The definition of virtual, for this new space, will accentuate even more its etymological meaning of potential, of possibility capable of realisation".
PREVENT IT FROM "DEGENERATING IN AN ANOMICAL PLACE"
"The verification of not too invasive monitoring of the user will be crucial" and "the technologically neutral setting of the Gdpr (General data protection regulation ed) will be able to provide basically complete regulation on the main aspects of this new world, above all thanks to the approach based on risk, which is decisive for modulating the protections on the characteristics of a constantly evolving reality”, explained Stanzione.
“Whatever model the development of the metaverse will be guided by – underlined the Guarantor – it is essential to adopt some essential guarantees, aimed at preventing this other dimension, from a utopian space of the possible, from degenerating into an anomic place where violate rights with impunity".
VOLUME OF DATA INCOMPARABLE WITH THAT OF THE WEB
More specifically, added Stanzione, “the transversality and multiplicity of experiences susceptible to realization and the volume of information that can be generated in the Metaverse will determine a collection of personal data that is not comparable with that of the web, in terms of quantity but also in terms of quality. In fact, it will also include biometric data conveyed, among others, by wearable devices, of which any abusive use must be prevented. The qualitative and quantitative relevance of the data flows will lead to a rethinking by design of the consent collection system and the guarantees of transparency in the information obligations".
NEW REQUESTS FOR PROTECTION NEEDED
Furthermore, according to the Guarantor "the impact that the (already planned) replacement of the visors with a neural interface could have, capable of projecting this virtual world directly into the brain, or rather into the most delicate region of the body because it cannot be reduced to mere biology, must be considered as a neural correlate of consciousness. And this, in a context in which neurotechnologies could, in the not too distant future, read thoughts, decoding neural data with brain reading systems. The entry of technology into that inner world into which not even the most coercive of powers had ventured can only arouse new requests for protection".
TOWARDS A TRUE CULTURAL HEGEMONY?
Therefore, "The risk is that the freedom to shape one's own world, promised by the Metaverse, is only apparent and hides, instead, a heterodirection of choices induced by microtargeting", Stanzione pointed out. "In the absence of adequate correctives, the orientation capacity proper to the selection of contents proposed by the algorithms runs the risk of becoming, in such a pervasive virtual experience, a real cultural hegemony".
AN ANTHROPOCENTRIC METAVERSE IS REQUIRED FOR THE GUARANTOR
Finally, for the Privacy Guarantor Pasquale Stanzione there is a duty to promote "sustainable and non-democratically regressive innovation", so that the Metaverse, "guided in an anthropocentric direction" can represent "that capable heterotopia, like the ship in Foucault , to open up horizons of meaning”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-perche-il-garante-privacy-mette-in-guardia-dal-metaverso/ on Tue, 31 Jan 2023 06:49:38 +0000.