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.
Identifying Privacy Risks and Implementing Best Practices for Body-Related Data in Immersive Technologies
As organizations develop more immersive technologies, and rely on the collection, use, and transferring of body-related data, they need to ensure their data practices not only maintain legal compliance, but also more fulsomely protect people’s privacy. To guide organizations as they develop their body-related data practices, the Future of Privacy Forum created the Risk Framework […]
FPF in 2023: A Year in Review
As 2023 comes to an end, we want to reflect on a year that saw the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) continue to expand its presence globally and domestically while organizing engaging events, publishing thought-provoking analysis, providing the latest expert updates, and more. FPF continues to convene industry experts, academics, consumer advocates, and other experts […]
Risk Framework for Body-Related Data in Immersive Technologies
Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) released its Risk Framework for Body-Related Data in Immersive Technologies for organizations to structure the collection, use, and onward transfer of body-related data. Organizations building immersive technologies like extended reality and virtual worlds often rely on large amounts of data about individuals’ bodies and behaviors. While body-related data […]
FPF in 2022: A Year in Review
As 2022 comes to an end, we wanted to reflect on a year that saw the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) expand its presence both domestically and around the globe, while producing engaging events, thought-provoking analysis, and insightful publications. Global Expansion In 2022, FPF closely followed and advised upon significant developments in Asia, the European […]
BCI Commercial and Government Use: Gaming, Education, Employment, and More
This post is the third in a four-part series on Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), providing an overview of the technology, use cases, privacy risks, and proposed recommendations for promoting privacy and mitigating risks associated with BCIs. Click here for FPF and IBM’s full report: Privacy and the Connected Mind. In case you missed them, read the […]
12th Annual Privacy Papers for Policymakers Awardees Explore the Nature of Privacy Rights & Harms
The winners of the 12th annual Future of Privacy (FPF) Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award ask big questions about what should be the foundational elements of data privacy and protection and who will make key decisions about the application of privacy rights. Their scholarship will inform policy discussions around the world about privacy harms, corporate […]
FPF in 2021: Delivering Privacy Insights & Expert Analysis
With the last days of 2021 upon us, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on this exciting year that saw FPF expand its presence both domestically and around the globe, while producing engaging events, thought-provoking analysis, and insightful reports with real-world impact. Growing Global Expertise The scope of FPF’s international work continued to […]
FPF Report Outlines Opportunities to Mitigate the Privacy Risks of AR & VR Technologies
A new report from the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), Augmented Reality + Virtual Reality: Privacy & Autonomy Considerations in Emerging, Immersive Digital Worlds, provides recommendations to address the privacy risks of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. The vast amount of sensitive personal information collected by AR and VR technologies creates serious risks […]
Join FPF For XR Week: April 19th-23rd, 2021
Adoption of augmented and virtual reality hardware and software technologies – collectively known as extended reality or “XR” – is taking hold among businesses and individuals. If you’d like to engage in the discussion about the ethical and privacy considerations of XR tech, join our XR Week activities April 19th to 23rd! After decades of development, demonstrations, […]
Five Top of Mind Data Protection Recommendations for Brain-Computer Interfaces
By Jeremy Greenberg, [email protected] and Katelyn Ringrose [email protected]. Key FPF-curated background resources – policy & regulatory documents, academic papers, and technical analyses regarding brain-computer interfaces are available here. Recently, Elon Musk livestreamed an update for Neuralink—his startup centered around creating brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). BCIs are an umbrella term for devices that detect, amplify, and translate […]