Can Metaverse become a “centralised digital world”?

• Legal issues such as protection of intellectual property (IP) ownership can make it vulnerable if no virtual jurisdiction or legislation is established.
• Tech companies are exploring endless possibilities of Metaverse apart from socialising, shopping, and work; and are also planning to invest huge capital in the coming years.

Metaverse is a digital environment, where we can create our virtual avatar, buy land, and building, and even create space for user interaction similar to the real world. Within this virtual world, we can meet our friends, attend events, or even shop using cryptocurrency. Thus, creating more authentic and natural experiences for us.

This digital world is created by using a combination of technologies such as blockchain, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR).

User experience in Metaverse

It is a futuristic term but its origin comes from almost 30 years ago. In the science fiction novel Snow Crash, published in 1992, the author Neal Stephenson mentioned the term “Metaverse”.

In his novel, characters used digital avatars and explored the virtual world, often as a way of escaping the real world. Stephenson has also worked part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin a company (founded by Jeff Bezos) developing a spacecraft and a space launch system.

Metaverse is still in its preliminary stage and we are unsure of what it could be in future. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook’s name to Meta, and made it clear, that the future of the internet lies in the virtual world.

Companies such as Microsoft, Epic Games, and Roblox are also planning to build their own Metaverse.

In the past few months, it created a buzz amongst us due to its combination of technological, social, and economic drivers. Not a day passes without news announced by a celebrity or company where they are building their presence in the digital world.

Blockchain is playing a vital role by enabling NFTs and digital currencies in this virtual world. It is opening up economies and allowing transacting and monetising digital goods via tokens.

Privacy concerns

As the buzz around the virtual environment increases, experts are raising concerns about the potential risk and gray area it possesses.

Firstly, there is a risk of unwanted/unknown individual contact in a more invasive manner. At present, if an unknown person wants to engage, they can reach us over social media platforms where their ability to contact us is mostly limited to texting, photos or emojis.

However, imagine a virtual world where an unknown individual, tries to invade your privacy. Companies are trying to incorporate touch as an additional feature with haptic technology in immersive reality, which could lead to the proliferation of harmful activities online.

The increasing use of digital currency could be another challenge. Digital currency hacks could range from phishing attacks to account take over.

In some recent incidents, the NFT marketplace was hit by a phishing attack, where victims reported that their digital assets were stolen from their accounts and sold on Twitter or the chat application Discord.

Legal issues such as protection of intellectual property (IP) ownership can make it vulnerable if no virtual jurisdiction or legislation is established.

Moreover, if creations are made by technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) they may not be given intellectual property protection as they would have not been originated from a human being.

Even content creators in the Metaverse may find it difficult to protect their IP owing to the difficulty of copyright infringement in the virtual realm.

Companies in Metaverse are collecting personal information from multiple channels, such as microphones, wearable devices, heart and respiratory monitors, to an extent that we have never seen before; for individual identification and advertisement. Such privacy concerns could lead to “The World with No Privacy”.

Louis Rosenberg, (a pioneer of VR, AR, AI and CEO of Unanimous AI) shares his thoughts on security and privacy in Metaverse. He says “we live with countless layers of technology between us, and those who own those layers can manipulate us”.

How to tackle it?

Tech companies and business leaders need to be aware of continually changing regulations and new attacks to ensure protection for users. We as users could protect our privacy with a multi-layered security mechanism.

Advanced technologies such as AI and ML could help identify and protect our privacy through, multi-factor authentication and digital footprints.

Tech companies in the Metaverse space need to remain diligent in focusing on risk management. The transition to the new digital world can be seamless only by staying ahead of risk.

What’s ahead?

In the coming years, we can expect industry consolidation, where Metaverse will be a centralised digital world, helping us with a seamless transition to remote working.

Liminal spaces (which integrate both virtual and physical experiences) through extended reality, will become more evident in hybrid venues and events.

The tech companies in the digital world are exploring endless possibilities of Metaverse apart from socialising, shopping, and work; and are also planning to invest huge capital in the coming years.

• Natasha Bhiwgade is a technology analyst since 2016. She is passionate about researching emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT). She believes “technology is best when it makes life easy.”