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.
State Legislators Prioritizing Privacy
Last week, The Council of State Governments (CSG) held its annual conference in Puerto Rico, bringing together bi-partisan state lawmakers from across the country to engage in thoughtful discourse and learn about issues impacting their constituents. Policy Fellow Jeremy Greenberg shares key privacy themes that resonated through the event: State legislators feel the need to […]
Policymakers, regulators, and privacy executives interact with latest connected tech at FPF's Second Annual Tech Lab
FPF held the Second Annual Tech Lab Open House Tuesday, April 18, 2017, at our offices in Washington, D.C. The Tech Lab Open House provided an opportunity for us to host FPF members and colleagues based in the District of Columbia, and those from around the world who were in town for the International Association of Privacy Professional’s Global Privacy Summit.
The 2nd Annual FPF Tech Lab Open House | April 18, 2017 in Washington, DC
The 2nd Annual FPF Tech Lab Open House is an opportunity for us to welcome our members, friends, and colleagues in town for the IAPP Global Privacy Summit. Hosted at our home office in Washington, DC, this event provides a rare occasion for policymakers, regulators, and thought leaders to interact with the latest in privacy-impacting gadgets and new technologies.
July 20th Event: Kids & The Connected Home
The debate over the relationship between children and technology has been heated and complex. Issues ranging from the right amount of screen time, online privacy, safety and security have occupied policymakers, parents, and advocates for quite some time.
Paper on Video Games and Privacy Released
At the start of the new year, one of the most anticipated video games of the year was Watch_Dogs, an open-world experience where players played the role of a hacker living in near-future Chicago, racing around the city using a mobile device to retrieve sensitive data and harnessing augmented reality feeds to pick up information about […]
Looking at Privacy Protections for Facial Recognition
On Sunday, Google announced that it would not allow facial recognition applications on Google Glass until “strong privacy protections” were in place. But this announcement begs the very question: what sort of privacy protections can actually be put in place for this sort of technology? Thus far, concerns about facial recognition technology have appeared within the context […]
Google Glasses and the Do Not See List?
Release of new details about the Google Glass project deservedly is getting great attention from a range of tech and privacy writers. The idea of smart glasses is familiar to fans of Vernor Vinge’s book Rainbow’s End, which won the 2007 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of the year. It’s safe to say […]