PriMeta

The transformative social impacts of metaverses have not yet been sufficiently researched. The associated issues of responsibility and regulation, interoperability, data security and user safety, data protection and informational self-determination, law, and ethics remain largely unresolved. The use of a metaverse generates large amounts of personal and personally identifiable information, some of which is highly sensitive, and which is published, linked, and analyzed across corporate and national borders. The significant risks to privacy resulting from this are further exacerbated by the technologies employed. Increasingly realistic avatars and virtual worlds in metaverses encourage the transfer of private aspects into the virtual space.

The PriMeta project will address pressing issues related to the use of the metaverse and examine the areas of data protection law, ethics, and IT security. In particular, Fraunhofer SIT is investigating how users in the complex, virtual world of data processing—which involves a large number of data-processing companies—can be supported in exercising their data subject rights. Solutions will be developed to ensure that the further development of metaverses is designed in a way that safeguards informational self-determination. In doing so, the specific requirements and circumstances regarding the protection of minors in metaverses will also be taken into account.

Funding and Duration

The PriMeta project is based on a call for proposals issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on December 30, 2022, for the funding of research projects titled "Platform Privacy - IT Security Protects Privacy and Supports Democracy" within the framework of the German government’s research framework program on IT security "Digital. Secure. Sovereign."

The project will run for three years, from March 2024 to the end of February 2027.