Organizations are increasingly developing or deploying “immersive technologies,” a collection of hardware and software products that substitute, enhance, or alter users’ individual, physical-world experiences. These emerging technologies—which include tools like extended reality (XR), virtual worlds, and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)—have the potential to transform healthcare, education, entertainment, advertising, and other sectors. However, because they often rely on large amounts and kinds of personal, potentially sensitive data, they also raise important privacy and data protection questions. Without safeguards, data about people’s bodies, behaviors, and surrounding environments could be inferred and used to manipulate, discriminate against, or otherwise harm both users and bystanders. FPF works with experts from industry, academia, and civil society to identify the unique privacy and data protection risks in this nascent field, analyze how existing and emerging regulations implicate immersive technologies, and develop best practices and policy recommendations.
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U.S. Legislative Trends in AI-Generated Content: 2024 and Beyond
Standing in front of the U.S. flag and dressed as Uncle Sam, Taylor Swift proudly proclaims that you should vote for Joe Biden for President. She then wants you to vote for Donald Trump in a nearly identical image circulated by former President Trump himself. Both the images, and the purported sentiments, are fabricated, the […]
Synthetic Content: Exploring the Risks, Technical Approaches, and Regulatory Responses
Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) released a new report, Synthetic Content: Exploring the Risks, Technical Approaches, and Regulatory Responses, which analyzes the various approaches being pursued to address the risks associated with “synthetic” content – material produced by generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. As more people use generative AI to create synthetic content, […]
Old Laws & New Tech: As Courts Wrestle with Tough Questions under US Biometric Laws, Immersive Tech Raises New Challenges
Extended reality (XR) technologies often rely on users’ body-based data, particularly information about their eyes, hands, and body position, to create realistic, interactive experiences. However, data derived from individuals’ bodies can pose serious privacy and data protection risks for people. It can also create substantial liability risks for organizations, given the growing volume of lawsuits […]