By Ryan Paterson, President of Unplugged
The flashy debut of sleek and very expensive extended reality (XR) products has reignited hype around a burgeoning tech sector that has faced enthusiasm and ridicule in equal measure. But an eerie undercurrent of risk runs beneath the hype machine, especially considering XR’s potentially paradigm-shifting data privacy and security issues are anything but new.
You don’t even have to look too far to dig up critiques of early forays from tech giants into the XR space. Wearable devices, for instance, already raised a slew of red flags a decade ago—years before mass data harvesting and privacy infringements became public knowledge.
Although these early iterations of XR products came and went in public consciousness and never entered mass production, the residual questions around XR’s data harvesting potential still linger.
But is any company truly taking those issues to heart? Large tech companies have already been taken to task about their respective privacy policies, but internal and external actions to keep these large companies accountable remains unclear. And if we continue to see tech giants put all their chips on XR becoming the next phase of digital interaction, it’s worth exploring what qualities make its data privacy threats so distinct.
What sets XR apart?
Despite its currently dubious popularity, XR will eventually play a larger role in how people interact with technology in some capacity. But it does require an inordinate amount of data access to function properly.
The elephant in the room regarding XR data privacy stems from visual data, an aspect we didn’t really have to consider as much when it came to smartphones. Yes, phone cameras can be hacked, and geotagged photos can give someone the tools to track your exact location at any time. But when you have a device strapped to your face that has access to all your surroundings, how can you ensure the data it collects won’t be used for unintended purposes?
We should expect companies to service us with ads or suggestions based on visual feeds from XR devices. If a hacker or another malicious entity manages to gain access to data from such an all-encompassing device, however, it could become an immediate and present danger to everyday users.
Preventing a privacy nightmare
Part of making sure these dangers don’t manifest from the sheer amount of visual data XR devices collect comes, of course, from fortifying the security of these devices to the highest degree possible. But that can’t really happen without also clearly defining what entities have access to this data at any given time, and this is where swift and multifaceted action is necessary.
Regulators must step up to the plate here to develop clear and comprehensive regulations to dictate what data companies are allowed to collect and store from XR devices. The key asterisk here, however, is to ensure that regulatory bona fides are not tampered with by corporate lobbying on behalf of tech giant interests.
Of course, industry collaboration is necessary to ensure regulations don’t stifle innovation while clearly interpreting the way these tech developments work. This is especially true when looking at the obstacles getting in the way of regulatory clarity for other burgeoning tech sectors such as AI and blockchain. But there’s a fine line between collaboration and influence, which is how certain regulations don’t actually do much to rein in the market power or oversight that large companies possess at the expense of consumer protection.
Ultimately, tech giants are looking for market dominance, and harnessing lobbying power for favorable legislation is just another tool in their arsenal to attain that.
Likewise, establishing hardware and software safeguards to prevent hackers from compromising XR devices must also be prioritized in order for people to actually feel safe when using these devices for everyday tasks. This becomes difficult when XR devices are connected to the internet or other devices, but it’s essential to build trust and its sustainable adoption beyond a novelty.
Making that a reality also puts a responsibility on tech giants and other XR developers to have a clear roadmap outlining the concrete steps they are taking to make these devices safe from attacks and unwanted monitoring. This could either come from a regulatory requirement in order to sell or market XR products or establishing a watchdog that keeps developers driving innovation in these fields accountable to their own word.
Trying to establish guardrails around a tech sector that has yet to reach its full potential is always easier said than done. But when it comes to technology that has the means to transform how users interact with each other digitally, it’s imperative to acknowledge and rectify the possible consequences of doing so. Private companies and sector leaders don’t always behave altruistically, and this is where external forces have to intervene in order to protect users while still encouraging innovation.
About the Author:
Ryan Paterson is the president of Unplugged. Before that, he was the founder, president, and CEO of IST Research. Ryan also served two tours at the Defense Advanced Research Agency, and 12 years in the United States Marine Corps (USMC).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.