Safety and Protection in the Metaverse
By
Garrett Meyerson

As we are seeing an increase in usage of the Metaverse it will be important to ensure proper securities are in place to provide safety to their users. The metaverse also known as augmented reality is a place where people can go to experience the physical world in a digital environment. The metaverse existed prior to Mark Zuckerberg’s initial investment and was better known as virtual reality at that time.  The first instance we saw of the Metaverse being a part of pop culture was the popular game VR chat available on steam. While many do praise the advancement in technology some do worry as there are some negative effects that come with the Metaverse. I wanted to learn more about the Metaverse, and its development and I thought what other topic would be better than looking deeper into the foundation of the safety and protection provided to Metaverse users. There is a stark contrast between how the internet developed and how the Metaverse is currently developing so I believe there to be some interesting parallels in the safety and protection outlines. To dive further into user safety, I did some research on what currently exists out there and what is being built. Then I looked further into one of the topics we covered in class surrounding children safety within the Metaverse.

User Privacy and Safety Overview

User Privacy and Safety has been one of the key points of debate when it comes to the future development of the Metaverse and concerns for many others. We have seen in recent years how social media has been accessing user data and information without their permission to sell to other companies. One of those specific companies being held under the microscope by the United States Government, being Meta formerly known as Facebook. Recently in an article from the Washington Post Mark Zuckerberg is quoted stating “I think our work is going to be of historic importance and create the foundation for an entirely new way that we will interact with each other and blend technology into our lives, as well as a foundation for the long term of our business.” This blend of technology into people’s lives is something that we have seen before with social media and how it has impacted daily living. I unfortunately did not really get to experience the pre-social media era as I grew up around the same time as it was starting to develop and grow. However, I have noticed the more recent positive and negative trends of technology blending with people’s lives. On a more positive note, we have seen technology connect others in ways they haven’t been able to before with an example being during the pandemic. On the negative side we have seen some of these technology companies take advantage of user vulnerability and their lack of understanding of how their platforms work and use it to their own advantage. The Chief Executive Officer of XRA, Elizabeth Hyman has stated “Our basic approach to this is privacy by design. Make sure the consumer understands what the technology does.”  This viewpoint allows users to better understand what information they are allowed to collect and not feel as worried when it comes to private information unknowingly being stored. While this transparency is important the security of this information is still hard to judge as with being on a new platform there are bound to be cracks underneath the surface that haven’t been exposed yet by third parties.

Children Safety

Children’s safety has always been a hot topic since the conception of more advanced technology such as the internet as anonymity can provide a dangerous atmosphere for those who are under the age of 13. Interpol had recently made a remake regarding the progression of the Metaverse and how some companies like Roblox are using it to target children. Interpol has made claims that the platform could pose some serious security risks towards children. When talking about children’s safety, security is not the only risk as at some points children are able to make big real-world decisions within the Metaverse. Primarily surrounding the idea of digital currency and making in-app purchases to gain rewards on products. We have seen this before with the rise of the app store but children having access to seemingly endless amounts of money through their guardian’s credit cards and spell major issues. We see some companies purposely target children to try to gain access to mom or dads credit card as they see getting children to make purchasing decisions in favor of their business easier than targeting adults. These business practices can seem unethical at times, and I agree but there also needs to be regulations set in place to ensure businesses are unable to target certain parts of these markets.

What Currently Exists

Looking further into what current guidelines are present in the Metaverse I found two prominent organizations that are formed by different companies inside of the Metaverse. The Open Metaverse Alliance is a group of smaller companies that are trying to ensure that larger technology companies such as Meta do not monopolize the entire industry. Meanwhile the Metaverse Standards Forum is a group of technology giants such as Meta and Microsoft that primarily focus on the client and user side of protection. The co-founder of a commerce platform known as Space, Batis Samadian told Decrypt “We share the same belief of the importance that the metaverse remains open and becomes truly user-owned—and that there are very fundamental things that need to be solved across multiple platforms and agreed upon to create this vision.” It’s important to members of the Open Metaverse Alliance that the virtual world remains an open space for equal opportunity as that is how many of them got their start and can currently operate. Many people in the Open Metaverse Alliance are concerned that these major technology corporations are only looking for financial gains and shareholder happiness instead of the well-being of the users in the Metaverse.  Members within the alliance do not believe what Mark Zuckerberg is doing truly represents the virtual world and are not properly using the blockchain technology in a way that is user first driven. Interestingly enough the Metaverse Standards Forum is also a user first platform where the interests of users is a top priority. An interesting thing to note is that while the Metaverse Standards Forum is striving towards having an open world, one of their major stakeholders Meta still relies heavily on selling user data to make a profit. Until Meta can shift their main revenue generator then the Metaverse Standards Forum will remain at a standstill.

What Can Be Improved

After using the Metaverse and doing research on it throughout this semester I would say user transparency and tutorials would be extremely beneficial to the community. I found myself using a lot of instruction via YouTube videos to help me access all the Metaverse has to provide. I think with that responsibility of educating the user it’s important that Meta looks at how they can shift their business model to not lean so heavily on user data for profit. If Meta can provide more secure ways for users to experience the Metaverse without having to fear for their information being leaked it will lead to more users on the platform. The lack and downturn of users on the Metaverse platform in recent months with the layoffs at Meta has signaled that the Metaverse as a whole is on the decline. It’s important that Meta remains focused on acquiring new and active users as the community itself is the product. Without users, like Facebook, the platform will die out as there isn’t a fear of missing out and not enough social gratification. Another thing Meta can look at doing is providing more moderation within the community. A lot of the content provided from the platform is user driven meaning there needs to be some level of moderation to ensure what content is being spread is safe. Similar to the likes of twitter it’s important to have some general guidelines and regulations to ensure the platform doesn’t spread hate speech and turn into anarchy.

How It Can Be Improved/Executed

I think in the near future we will see ways that Meta is able to incorporate built in moderators into the community more naturally. Currently Meta has employees that work directly with the community as representatives, but it would be nice to see more community driven leaders as well. At the end of the day a lot of what the Metaverse is built on is the passion of the people inside of it and its important to keep that fire burning. On another note while gaming is a big portion of the appeal for the Metaverse for the younger audience it’s important that there are measures put in place for users under the ages of 16-13. Kids are essentially to future generations and the earlier they get acclimated with technology the more they will have room to grow. However, there needs to be safety measures in place to protect them at a younger age as they develop.  These measures may include having a limitation on spending within a given time and some kind of automated human moderation of their actions and interactions with others.  The open internet in any setting can be dangerous for someone under the age but especially for those in the virtual world. Lastly if Meta can pivot more of their revenue generating sources towards either advertisement or working with content creators similar to the platform YouTube, they will see more user happiness. It’s important to remember that user well-being is what will ultimately drive the platform as a whole and the community. Without being a user-first program then the platform itself will die out in the end and lose in competition to a more user-friendly one.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, safety and protection of users and companies using the Metaverse will need to be closely monitored as more data every day is beginning to be stored inside. There is a stark contrast between how the internet developed and how the Metaverse is currently developing so I believe there to be some interesting parallels in the safety and protection outlines. It is important to closely read terms and services when using different programs within the Metaverse as storage of data and usage of it can change immensely.

Resources

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