Metaverse needs to be mindful of privacy to avoid Meta's mistakes

Metaverse skeptics worry about unprecedented levels of unprotected data and mass user surveillance. Ironically, the biggest company driving the Metaverse, Meta ( formerly Facebook ), is facing its own privacy scandal in the current iteration of the internet. In the end, Mark Zuckerberg was brought before the U.S. Congress in embarrassment to take responsibility for Facebook's failure to crack down on hate speech and data privacy violations.

In a U.S. Senate committee hearing, whistleblower Frances Haugen accused Meta of prioritizing "profit over the well-being of children and all users" in creating manipulative algorithms that used behavioral data to persuade Users spend more time on the platform.

The controversy hasn't diminished Facebook's popularity, but the zeitgeist of public opposition to surveillance offers lessons for Metaverse developers. They hope to solve many problems of Web2. This fledgling field could apply such a system to give users full visibility into how the system collects and utilizes user data, and what data is collected. By emphasizing privacy and assuring users that their data will not be used against them, the smaller Metaverse companies gain a unique selling point, even over any of the big tech companies looking to enter the Metaverse, including Meta.

Data Privacy Concerns in the Metaverse

The Metaverse Avatar is a collection of all privacy-related concerns in the digital realm. As the gateway for users to interact with all metaverses, they can also provide platforms with a lot of personal data collection, especially when their technology stack involves biometric data, such as tracking users' facial features and expressions, which are used to reflect the avatar's own emotion.

The risk of hacking biometric data is far more dire than hacking shopping preferences. Biometrics are often used as an extra security precaution, such as when you use your fingerprint to authorize payments on your phone. Imagine someone steals your fingerprints and transfers all the money in your card. Such breaches are not unheard of: In 2019, hackers gained access to the biometric data of 28 million people.

It’s scary to think about what traditional digital marketing would look like in the Metaverse. Have you ever bought shoes online, only to suddenly find that your Facebook page is full of ads for similar shoes? This is a result of advertisers using cookies and your IP address to personalize your ads. Imagine if advertisers had access not only to your shopping preferences but also to your biodata. Marketers pay big bucks for a series of facial expressions captured while you shop at the Metaverse Mall, and Big Tech knows it all too well.

This is where the smaller Metaverse developers have an advantage over larger corporations like Meta. Data privacy will be a huge concern for anyone seeking to join the Metaverse. New developers need to emphasize privacy as their main selling point when confronted with Meta that has a history of abusing data. So, how to do it?

Ensuring Privacy Protections for Vulnerable Consumers

The Metaverse is our opportunity to build a better, more private digital reality that protects individual privacy from institutional and corporate abuse. Therefore, developers should take this into account when building the architecture of the Metaverse. This architecture should clearly communicate data policies and preferences to users, ensuring they only share data when they really want to, and not dupe them with disclaimers buried in pages of legalese.

Just as many websites today have more effective controls that give users the right to opt out of sharing data, the Metaverse project should provide users with clear ways to protect their data, biometric or not. The key is to emphasize these elements from the start.

Biometric data, whether it's an avatar's facial expression tracking or a fingerprint used as the basis for an encryption key pair, requires special protection. Accessing such data is not the same as the nature of Meta knowing someone's food preferences - as this is effectively the key to accessing everyone's bio information. To secure such information in the Metaverse, developers should standardize the use of blockchain-powered digital biometric-based IDs. Biometric data can serve as the cryptographic basis for generating a pair of public and private keys. These keys will serve as proof of identity on the network, enabling their holders to sign for transactions. Enabling digital identities rooted in key pairs can make identities safer, more protected, and nearly impossible to hack.

Another key way to protect consumers is to ensure their data is encrypted and anonymized. Don't try to save trouble. Make sure to communicate effectively with your customers that their privacy is the number one priority and that they are in control of what they share. The Metaverse can be a scary place if users don't know what their data is for.

A thousand miles begins with a single step. For the developers of the metaverse, the first step is crucial. For the Metaverse to reach a mainstream audience, make sure people are comfortable sharing their data. For Metaverse users, privacy concerns are no joke, and Metaverse developers must keep this in mind in order to have an advantage over large corporations — and more importantly, shaping the future of the Internet. Everyone's privacy depends on it.

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