The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has raised significant concerns regarding the Metaverse, highlighting key issues such as privacy, safety, and security that demand thorough consideration.
Privacy and Tracking Concerns:
TRAI notes that Metaverse technology has the potential to extensively track users, monitoring their movements, interactions, activities, and even their visual focus duration. Immersive platforms may track facial expressions, vocal tones, and vital signs, utilizing intelligent algorithms to predict real-time emotional states. This tracking extends to real-time monitoring of user posture, gait, and interaction with objects, including virtual ones. In augmented reality, users’ gaze, posture, and interactions in the physical world can be monitored, such as while shopping in augmented physical stores.
Urgent Need for Regulatory Framework:
TRAI emphasizes the need for a suitable regulatory framework. The regulator believes that the existing challenges in online applications, including privacy breaches, data snooping, harassment, and hate speech, are likely to escalate with increased digitization and online activities.
Concerns About the Future:
TRAI expresses concerns that without timely actions to establish trust and safety in digital spaces, the next generation could inherit a digital environment plagued by predators, hate speech, and distrust. Therefore, TRAI emphasizes the importance of international regulators coming together to develop guidance or frameworks suitable for the Metaverse.
The emergence of the Metaverse poses significant challenges that necessitate immediate attention and regulatory measures to safeguard the privacy and security of users within this evolving digital landscape.
