The growth of the internet and the countless amazing digital products and services that have generated a torrent of personal data has been collected by large corporations. Every search engine query, comment, like, avatar, email, and purchase is another note in the symphony of our digital identity that only certain companies and their algorithms can hear. The Metaverse takes data collection to a new level and will be filled with immersive content and increasingly rich data streams.

While we might be willing to exchange cookie data or information about our purchases of internet products and services to make our lives easier, it’s not clear that we’d be equally happy to hand over our unique biological voice and facial data to these companies to generate virtual versions of ourselves in a hyper-real metaverse.

Internet Services Collection and Personal Data

The way many internet services collect data has made more and more people reluctant to share their personal data with online platforms, especially Generation Z users.

As we move into a hyper-realistic metaverse, the stakes are rising due to the incredibly private nature of the data required to render real people, including digital copies of our faces, bodies, and voices. This is a major hurdle in developing an inclusive and user-friendly metaverse, especially when it comes to hyper-real content.

If we are to allow billions of people to enter virtual worlds, content creators will need to use AI content generation algorithms trained on real-world data to create personalized immersive experiences at scale.

But individuals must be willing to share their intimate biometrics and private data with content creators; otherwise, the metaverse may end up being just an endless Zoom video conference of a bunch of thighless torsos chatting together.

How to ensure your true identity in the Metaverse

The arrival of a “hyperreal” metaverse is both an exciting and unsettling prospect. On the one hand, the metaverse will create new immersive avenues for human expression and interaction. For example, the transition from analog phone calls to video conferencing only began 15 years ago, and it has rapidly transformed the quality of our interactions with family and friends around the world. Imagine how meaningful real-time, immersive, and lifelike virtual “get-togethers” would be when you actually feel like you are there with your friends and loved ones.

On the other hand, platform owners are at risk of obtaining new and increasing amounts of personal and biometric data from users. Beyond this, bad actors could create harmful content and use it to exploit individuals and communities. Recent examples of these risks include political misinformation and the abuse of pornographic images against women. As we collectively explore how the Metaverse will unfold, we all need to be nuanced about user education, policy development, and the careful development of hyperreal technologies and AI. Ultimately, as we approach an AI-driven hyperreal Metaverse, the biggest challenges will come down to who controls user data and the safeguards we put in place to protect individuals.

The first principle of securing your Hyperreal Identity in the Metaverse is to actively claim ownership of your private biometric data. While governments have a responsibility to prevent criminals from stealing your data and identity, at the very least, you can use blockchain technology to claim your Hyperreal Identity and track its use by legitimate content creators. Imagine securing your biometric data with a non-fungible token (NFT) that represents your Hyperreal Identity and that only you control. As you move between virtual worlds in the Metaverse, you can use this NFT as an authenticated login service and control which platforms can access your biometric data.

Take VR headsets, for example, which are already able to track users’ eyes, map their surroundings, and record their voices. If participation in the Metaverse is based on collecting these biometric data formats, then we need to design systems that give individuals control over when and how their data is used. In this regard, Web3 tools, including blockchain and other permissionless technologies, are critical to ensuring data sovereignty in the Metaverse, as they enable tracking of personalized content at scale without requiring users to blindly trust third parties with their biometric data.

Web3 will give individuals control over their metaverse identities and biometric data

Attacking a person’s personal identity in the real world is extremely expensive in terms of time, resources, and potential consequences. But in today’s internet environment, the barriers to large-scale identity theft have been greatly lowered, and millions of people fall victim to these attacks every year. It is critical to use Web3 tools, including NFTs and blockchains, to ensure individuals’ data sovereignty in the metaverse. Because the deep personal details inherent in this data create new opportunities for malicious actors to impersonate individuals and exploit our identities.

These risks are amplified in the Metaverse. If an attacker can make your lifelike digital avatar say or do anything, and other users can’t tell if that person is really you, it becomes much more challenging to combat fraud and build the webs of trust that are essential to healthy communities. The hyperreal Metaverse will unlock new opportunities for working and playing in virtual spaces, but this will only happen if there is a profound shift in the way data is exchanged and protected online.

If malicious actors appear in the Metaverse

While there will always be malicious actors in the Metaverse, Web3 technologies can provide a set of guardrails for a positive economy where individuals can safely share their biometric data and safely appear as themselves in Metaverse content experiences. It is critical that we create systems that empower individuals to control how they present themselves in the Metaverse and who has access to their biometric data. These systems will make personalized content creation a consensual and collaborative process between the companies that create the content and the individuals who engage with it.

This is a profound shift in the core incentive structure of the modern Internet and Web2.

In the Web2 era, the price of accessing major platforms and enjoying the best products is to give up control of your personal information. In the near future, NFTs, blockchains, and Web3 tools will allow users to participate in the digital economy for the first time without giving up control of their data.