Data Protection in the Metaverse: Concerns and Implications

The metaverse as announced by Mark Zuckerberg in October 2021 is gaining noticeable momentum Metaverse is expected to present huge economic and social opportunities such as in health education and industry sectors However this comes with a high cost a wide range of risks on privacy data protection identity cybersecurity ownership misuse digital sovereignty as well as economic and social risks such as impacts on vulnerable group

Guardians of the Metaverse: Expert Assessment of Emerging Privacy Challenges and Mitigation Strategies

The metaverse describes persistent and interconnected 3D multi-user environments that are characterized by the fusion of physical and virtual worlds. Fueled by the rebranding of Meta, the metaverse is experiencing a resurgence and has attracted the attention of practitioners and scholars, resulting in a new wave of publications. While cutting-edge technologies offer unprecedented immersive experiences, users face new privacy situations as metaverse technologies require extensive data collection. Additionally, the spatial nature of the metaverse allows for the observation of digital footprints. This changing context of data disclosure necessitates a re-evaluation of privacy. Building on the Multidimensional Development Theory as an overarching framework, I conducted 35 expert interviews, resulting in 16 emerging privacy challenges and corresponding privacy protection measures. With these findings, this paper contributes to research on today’s metaverse by empirically investigating privacy as a crucial aspect and providing practical recommendations for organizations to mitigate negative user reactions

Metaverse beyond the hype: Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy

The metaverse has the potential to extend the physical world using augmented and virtual reality technologies allowing users to seamlessly interact within real and simulated environments using avatars and holograms. Virtual environments and immersive games (such as, Second Life, Fortnite, Roblox and VRChat) have been described as antecedents of the metaverse and offer some insight to the potential socio-economic impact of a fully functional persistent cross platform metaverse. Separating the hype and “meta…” rebranding from current reality is difficult, as “big tech” paints a picture of the transformative nature of the metaverse and how it will positively impact people in their work, leisure, and social interaction. The potential impact on the way we conduct business, interact with brands and others, and develop shared experiences is likely to be transformational as the distinct lines between physical and digital are likely to be somewhat blurred from current perceptions. However, although the technology and infrastructure does not yet exist to allow the development of new immersive virtual worlds at scale - one that our avatars could transcend across platforms, researchers are increasingly examining the transformative impact of the metaverse. Impacted sectors include marketing, education, healthcare as well as societal effects relating to social interaction factors from widespread adoption, and issues relating to trust, privacy, bias, disinformation, application of law as well as psychological aspects linked to addiction and impact on vulnerable people. This study examines these topics in detail by combining the informed narrative and multi-perspective approach from experts with varied disciplinary backgrounds on many aspects of the metaverse and its transformational impact. The paper concludes by proposing a future research agenda that is valuable for researchers, professionals and policy makers alike

Overcoming Challenges to Enable the Potential of Metaverse Platforms: A Qualitative Approach to Understand Value Creation

Metaverse is the buzzword of modern society. Practitioners and researchers have discussed metaverse platforms extensively, but the potential and meaning of the metaverse remain controversial. In this paper, we investigate and identify challenges that enable the potential of metaverse platforms. If these challenges are overcome, there will be value creation for practitioners, organizations, and society. We used a qualitative approach whereby we interviewed 34 metaverse experts to identify the challenges, potential, and value associated with the metaverse. Our results demonstrate that technical and societal challenges obstruct the ability to handle user-related and organizational challenges. If these challenges can be overcome, we can use the opportunities that our participants identified to create functional, social, and emotional value. Our work theoretically contributes to current knowledge on metaverse platforms by elaborating on handling metaverse platform ecosystems and determining instrumental challenges in their realization. With our qualitative approach, we provide room and directions for future research to develop a better understanding of the role and meaning of value creation in the metaverse. Our findings are useful to practitioners by presenting challenges organizations must overcome to create metaverse platforms or participate in a metaverse ecosystem. Furthermore, we present opportunities for vendors of metaverse platforms and organizations by identifying relevant processes that can be transferred into the metaverse

A Cybersecurity Model for a Roblox-based Metaverse Architecture Framework

The adoption of virtual reality VR and augmented reality AR headsets in futuristic and science fiction has made it possible for the Metaverse to exist as a single universal immersive virtual universe By extending technology outside of our physical reality the Metaverse alters the human experience The four categories we use to categorize metaverse definitions are environment interface interaction and social value Currently it is unclear what the metaverse s structure and elements are A cybersecurity framework for these devices is necessary as the world grows more interconnected and immersive technologies are increasingly widely used in business government and consumer markets Used was a literature revie

Towards Ubiquitous Semantic Metaverse: Challenges, Approaches, and Opportunities

In recent years, ubiquitous semantic Metaverse has been studied to revolutionize immersive cyber-virtual experiences for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) users, which leverages advanced semantic understanding and representation to enable seamless, context-aware interactions within mixed-reality environments. This survey focuses on the intelligence and spatio-temporal characteristics of four fundamental system components in ubiquitous semantic Metaverse, i.e., artificial intelligence (AI), spatio-temporal data representation (STDR), semantic Internet of Things (SIoT), and semantic-enhanced digital twin (SDT). We thoroughly survey the representative techniques of the four fundamental system components that enable intelligent, personalized, and context-aware interactions with typical use cases of the ubiquitous semantic Metaverse, such as remote education, work and collaboration, entertainment and socialization, healthcare, and e-commerce marketing. Furthermore, we outline the opportunities for constructing the future ubiquitous semantic Metaverse, including scalability and interoperability, privacy and security, performance measurement and standardization, as well as ethical considerations and responsible AI. Addressing those challenges is important for creating a robust, secure, and ethically sound system environment that offers engaging immersive experiences for the users and AR/VR applications.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

The Future of the Internet III

Presents survey results on technology experts' predictions on the Internet's social, political, and economic impact as of 2020, including its effects on integrity and tolerance, intellectual property law, and the division between personal and work lives

Exploring the Darkverse: A Multi-Perspective Analysis of the Negative Societal Impacts of the Metaverse

The Metaverse has the potential to form the next pervasive computing archetype that can transform many aspects of work and life at a societal level. Despite the many forecasted benefits from the metaverse, its negative outcomes have remained relatively unexplored with the majority of views grounded on logical thoughts derived from prior data points linked with similar technologies, somewhat lacking academic and expert perspective. This study responds to the dark side perspectives through informed and multifaceted narratives provided by invited leading academics and experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The metaverse dark side perspectives covered include: technological and consumer vulnerability, privacy, and diminished reality, human–computer interface, identity theft, invasive advertising, misinformation, propaganda, phishing, financial crimes, terrorist activities, abuse, pornography, social inclusion, mental health, sexual harassment and metaverse-triggered unintended consequences. The paper concludes with a synthesis of common themes, formulating propositions, and presenting implications for practice and policy

Non-fungible tokens (NFTS) and their security challenges

The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market has been exploding in the past years. The notion of NFT originated with Ethereum's token standard, which aimed to differentiate each token using distinguishing signals. Tokens of this type can be associated with virtual or digital properties to serve as unique identifiers. Using NFTs Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a new technology gaining traction in the Blockchain industry. In this article, we examine state-of the art NFT systems that have the potential to reshape the market for digital virtual assets. We will assess the security of existing NFT systems and expand on the opportunities and prospective uses for the NFT idea. Finally, we discuss existing research challenges that must be overcome before mass-market penetration may occur. We hope that this paper provides an up-to-date analysis and summary of existing and proposed solutions and projects, making it easier for newcomers to stay current.Fonksuz Belirteç (NFT) pazarı son yıllarda patlama yapıyor. NFT'nin nosyonu Ethereum'un belirteç standardıyla ortaya çıkmıştır ve bu durum, her belirteci ayırt edici sinyaller kullanarak ayırt etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu tipteki belirteçler, benzersiz tanımlayıcılar olarak hizmet vermek için sanal veya dijital özelliklerle ilişkilendirilebilir. NFTS Non-Fungible Token (NFT) kullanmak, Blockchain endüstrisinde yeni bir teknoloji kazanıyor. Bu makalede, dijital sanal varlıklar için pazarı yeniden şekillendirme potansiyeline sahip son teknoloji ürünü NFT sistemlerini inceliyoruz. Mevcut NFT sistemlerinin güvenliğini değerlendirecek ve NFT fikri için fırsatları ve olası kullanımları genişleteceğiz. Son olarak, kitle pazara giriş gerçekleşmeden önce aşılması gereken mevcut araştırma zorluklarını ele alıyoruz. Bu incelemede, mevcut ve önerilen çözüm ve projelerin güncel bir analizi ve özeti sağlanarak, yeni gelenlerin güncel kalmasını kolaylaştırılmasını umuyoruz.No sponso

International gaming:laws and regulations around games in the digital era: conference proceedings

Games have a complicated relationship with the law and with the globalization of the gaming market in the digital era, legality is something that must be considered in the development, publication, playing and moderation of games. Games have been and continue to be regulated around the globe, and issues arise at different times in a games life cycle: intellectual property (IP), including patent and copyright protection, must be considered from the initial development of the game; International legality, age ratings, and infringement must be considered in the publication of the game; and players must consider the legality of their manner of obtaining the game and whether or not that game is even legal in the country they are playing in. In addition to this, there are legal issues surrounding abuse and harassment in games, leading several developers to implement moderation and other safety regulations internally in order to pass risk assessments from international regulations. In this way, the laws and regulations around games and gaming in the digital era need to be scrutinized.