Safety and Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: An Analysis and Policy Recommendations

Hine, E., Rezende, I.N., Roberts, H., Wong, D., Taddeo, M., Floridi, L. Safety and Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: An Analysis and Policy Recommendations. Digital Society (forthcoming).

48 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2023 Last revised: 16 May 2024

See all articles by Emmie Hine

Emmie Hine

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center; University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies; KU Leuven - Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP)

Isadora Neroni Rezende

Department of Legal Studies, University of Bologna

Huw Roberts

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute

David Wong

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute

Mariarosaria Taddeo

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute

Luciano Floridi

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center; University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies

Date Written: September 27, 2023

Abstract

Extended reality (XR) technologies have experienced cycles of development - “summers” and “winters” - for decades, but their overall trajectory is one of increasing uptake. In recent years, immersive extended reality (IXR) applications, a kind of XR that encompasses immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) environments, have become especially prevalent. The European Union (EU) is exploring regulating this type of technology, and this article seeks to support this endeavor. It outlines safety and privacy harms associated with IXR, analyzes to what extent the existing EU framework for digital governance - including the General Data Protection Regulation, Product Safety Legislation, ePrivacy Directive, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, and AI Act - addresses these harms, and offers some recommendations to EU legislators on how to fill regulatory gaps and improve current approaches to the governance of IXR.

Keywords: Digital ethics, extended reality, virtual reality, metaverse, governance, EU law

Suggested Citation

Hine, Emmie and Neroni Rezende, Isadora and Roberts, Huw and Wong, David and Taddeo, Mariarosaria and Floridi, Luciano, Safety and Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: An Analysis and Policy Recommendations (September 27, 2023). Hine, E., Rezende, I.N., Roberts, H., Wong, D., Taddeo, M., Floridi, L. Safety and Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: An Analysis and Policy Recommendations. Digital Society (forthcoming)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4585963 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4585963

Emmie Hine (Contact Author)

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center ( email )

85, Trumbull Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States

University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies ( email )

Via Zamboni 22
Bologna, Bo 40100
Italy

KU Leuven - Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP) ( email )

Sint-Michielsstraat 6 box 3443
Leuven, 3000
Belgium

Isadora Neroni Rezende

Department of Legal Studies, University of Bologna ( email )

, Via Zamboni, 27, 40126
Bologna
Italy

Huw Roberts

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St. Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3PG Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://digitalethicslab.oii.ox.ac.uk/huw-roberts/

David Wong

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St. Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3PG Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

Mariarosaria Taddeo

University of Oxford - Oxford Internet Institute ( email )

1 St. Giles
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3PG Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire OX1 3JS
United Kingdom

Luciano Floridi

Yale University - Digital Ethics Center ( email )

85 Trumbull Street
New Haven, CT CT 06511
United States
2034326473 (Phone)

University of Bologna- Department of Legal Studies ( email )

Via Zamboni 22
Bologna, Bo 40100
Italy

HOME PAGE: http://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/luciano.floridi/en

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