“There is no physical reality”
“Virtual reality is essentially making your brain believe that the virtual world around you is real,” explains Katherine Cross, a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington who specializes in online bullying .
“When we talk about VR harassment – sexual assault, for example – what we really mean is that your body initially thinks it’s ‘real’ before the conscious part of your brain realizes it’s not. It happened physically,” he details.
The legal implications are vague, although this researcher considers that the legislation against sexual harassment could be applied in such cases.
Nina Jane Patel remembers that after demanding her assailants to stop, she took off her virtual reality headset.
Through the speakers in her living room she could still hear those male voices: “don’t pretend you didn’t like it” or “that’s why you came here.”
This scene happened last November in ” Horizon Venues “, the metaverse of Meta , the parent company of Facebook -, which hosts virtual events organized by brands, such as concerts, conferences or basketball games.
His testimony is not an isolated case, other metaverse visitors from different platforms have reported similar incidents.
protection bubbles
Meta and Microsoft announced in February that they will apply a protection bubble that will surround the avatars, to prevent someone from getting closer than a meter away .
Microsoft has removed meeting spaces from its Altspace VR metaverse .
“I think the bullying issue will be resolved because players will select platforms” based on their own criteria, estimates Louis Rosenberg, an engineer who developed the first augmented reality system in 1992 for the US Air Force’s research labs.
But this businessman, who later founded a company specialized in artificial intelligence, confided to AFP that he is more concerned about “the harassment of private companies”, interested in extracting as much data as possible, from the movement of the eyes to the heart rate of the visitors.
Some players in the sector, such as the Oasis Consortium analysis center, have already begun to reflect on security codes.
“When platforms identify content that may pose a real risk, it is essential to notify the authorities” indicates one of its recommendations.
For Rosenberg, the model of a free and gratuitous metaverse is not viable. “His business model has to move from advertising-based to subscription-based,” she explains. (AFP)
