Privacy and Personal Space: Addressing Interactions and Interaction Data as a Privacy Concern
Lauren E. Buck, Bobby Bodenheimer · 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW) · 2021
The privacy and security of personal data has been at the forefront of public concern for some time now, and is typically understood in the context of data collected from online interaction (social media, transactions, search engine queries, etc.). The advent of immersive technologies expand data collection beyond what can typically be extracted via online interaction, particularly in terms of the availability of biometric data (eye tracking and gait analysis). However, it has not yet been brought to light that interactions and interaction data will soon be of concern in terms of privacy. We mediate interactions in everyday life through the maintenance of personal space and allow certain individuals and objects into our personal space. We do the same in virtual reality. Our personal space allows us to preserve our feeling of safety, and the way we mediate it shows our biases and preferences. In this work, we take a look at the implications of interaction and the availability of personal data that will bring a host of ethical and privacy concerns.