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“There was a statistic that came out that said that by the time a child turns thirteen, on average, there are about 72 million data points about them all over the internet, and that is going to continue to grow, so as we move into the metaverse, it could be in hyperdrive.”
She’s Kirra Pendergast, a cybersecurity expert who has spoken to thousands of children, parents and teachers about how to stay safe online.
She does this through the organization she founded called Safe on Socials.
“My team usually works with between three and five thousand students a week, so we see clear patterns. We’ve been doing this for a long time, almost 12 years, and the patterns are still – it’s literally like a train smash between eleven and about fourteen years old when a child gets their first device and starts using apps and the parents are not aware of the apps and they can’t keep up with the games being played then they don’t .I have no idea what the metaverse is.”
The Metaverse is often called the “next version” of the Internet.
Immersive, interconnected and often using augmented or virtual reality technologies, it is a place where the physical and digital worlds mix.
Kareen Riley-Takos, operations director at Standards Australia, says people don’t realize what it is.
“Eight in 10 parents and seven in 10 teachers don’t actually know what the Metaverse is; 30 percent of parents don’t know who their children interact with; and only 44 percent are aware of risks like bullying, grooming and identity theft.
And there are a lot of children in the metaverse.
Research published this morning [[December 03]]by Standards Australia suggests that two-thirds of Metaverse users are under the age of 16.
Some of the most common examples of metaverse platforms they use include Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite.
Kareen Riley-Takos says there is a worrying gap between the popularity of these types of platforms among children and adults’ awareness of what they entail.
“While social media is currently under scrutiny, many of the same kids who are on social media are also engaging in the metaverse. While the metaverse has many positive and exciting benefits, like anything online, it also carries risks.”
The results of Standards Australia’s survey come as experts like Pendergast push for guidelines for the metaverse, essentially a framework to protect children before new technologies take root.
“This is a different version of the Internet. Let’s not forget that. And so I think where we missed the boat in the past, we have an opportunity to fix it in the future by implementing places this standard, because it’s still coming, if that makes sense It’s not commonly used, like social media Trying to adapt things to social media is very, very difficult, but as we start everything. just considering entering these metaversal worlds at Through games like Roblox and Fortnite and spaces like Decentraland and things like that, we have a small window of opportunity to succeed where we missed with social media.
A white paper has been published to explore what the new standards should look like.
It is open for public consultation until January 24, 2025.
The paper highlights how metaverse technology will not only track what users click on and buy, but also where they go, who they are with, what they watch and do.
He suggests that glasses, headsets and body-worn sensors could be used to track facial expressions, vocal inflections and even vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and pupil dilation, allowing thus new levels of behavioral tracking and emotional profiling that could boost marketing. efforts.
Mark Andrejevic, a professor at Monash University, says this is exactly why big tech companies are investing so heavily in the metaverse.
“I think the reality of what’s happening is that we now live in a world where the dominant modes of social interaction that are popular and available take place on really super-commercialized platforms that structure the nature of our interaction, the type of content we see, the way we are invited to present ourselves and represent ourselves All this is dictated not so much by the social character of these platforms as by their commercial character and their economic model.
In addition to age verification, parental controls and content moderation, Standards Australia suggests a range of protections to limit the worst potential effects of intensified data collection.
These include standards for maintaining a clear line between marketing materials and authentic encounters in the metaverse; a ban on storing behavioral data over time; and a right to emotional privacy, which would limit the use of biometric data to understand how users feel.
Professor Andrejevic claims that several years ago, Facebook inadvertently revealed internal research that showed the company could identify times when teenagers felt inadequate or insecure, and tried to sell that data to advertisers.
He says this shows why greater protections are important.
“Why would you want to share this fact that you can identify it to advertisers. It’s precisely because advertising capitalizes on insecurity. And you know, if you can find teenagers who don’t feel safe, that looks like an audience vulnerable to manipulation And so The very fact that the platforms think that way says a lot, I think, about the extent to which they care about the well-being of the children who are on these platforms, it’s. that is to say, not much at all. for data is limitless. The uses of this data are precisely to be able to earn more money from children. This is the only thing that really interests these platforms.
Kareen Riley-Takos hopes the new standards will serve as a basis for safer online spaces in the future.
“We have a series of standards in the physical world that are aimed at ensuring the safety of children. This particular draft standard and this process for child safety in the metaverse is our first in the virtual world, and it is an element really important step, we see that the world around us is changing and we need to make sure that, you know, we will support the safety of our children, whether it’s in the physical world, on the internet or in an environment like the metaverse. .
