Protecting Data In The Metaverse: Do Avatars Dream Of Privacy?

The metaverse will bring many benefits, but it is also likely to multiply and compound privacy issues, particularly given its global nature.

With the advent of the commercial internet in the 1990s, organizations were increasingly able to track users' clicks and searches to gather information about their preferences, interests, and purchasing habits. Mobile technology not only added precise location tracking, it also enabled the integration of smartphones into virtually every life activity, giving organizations deeper insights into users' identities.

The metaverse will take us much further down this path, enabling the tracking of human bodies and even thoughts, particularly as users develop deep relationships with digital avatars. Whether through virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) - which together are known as extended reality (XR) - the metaverse will increase the type and volume of data that organizations collect, as well as change how they process