Virtual Reality Privacy

Virtual reality can potentially change how we live, interact and collaborate. This is due to VR's unique capability: immersing the user in a virtual but safe world. The potential uses of virtual reality are many and growing. These include areas such as gaming (e.g., Beats Saber), professional sports (e.g., training programs for various sports), virtual travel (e.g., National Geographic Explore VR), healthcare (e.g., programs to treat PTSD), film & television (e.g., 360° videos).

Virtual reality can collect user data on a scale and scope that other consumer devices (e.g., smartphones and smartwatches) are not. Moreover, much of this data, including potentially sensitive biometric information, is necessary for the core functions of VR devices. Since VR relies heavily on biometric data, there are unique challenges related to privacy and user choice in collecting and processing personal data. Finally, current European laws and regulations cannot address the privacy risks associated with this multimodal data collection. This raises the question of regulating the data collection essential to virtual reality. The challenge is to regulate data collection and sufficiently protect privacy without limiting essential VR functions and hindering VR innovation.

Note: For publication policy reasons, information on this project is limited. The project is still in progress.