Study: It’s Comically Easy To Identify ‘Anonymized’ Users In The ‘Metaverse’ With A Tiny Bit Of Motion Data

[bilateralrope]

Techdirt

from the "anonymized"-doesn't-mean-anonymous dept
Fri, Feb 24th 2023 05:32am - Karl Bode

We’ve noted for a very long while how most of the explanations that corporations use to insist that your privacy is protected are effectively worthless.

For example, corporations will routinely inform you that it’s no big deal that they’re over-collecting and selling access to your browsing or location data to any idiot with a nickel because that data is “anonymized,” protecting your identity. In reality, that term means nothing, and study after study have shown it’s easy to identify you with only a few snippets of additional information.

With that in mind, a new study about user privacy in the virtual reality and augmented reality era (full study here) tracked 50,000 users in VR and found some interesting data. Most notably, that it takes incredibly little actual data collected from device microphones, cameras, and other tech to accurately identify a user’s real-world identity.

Like, very little:

The research analyzed more than 2.5 million VR data recordings (fully anonymized) from more than 50,000 players of the popular Beat Saber app and found that individual users could be uniquely identified with more than 94% accuracy using only 100 seconds of motion data.

Even more surprising was that half of all users could be uniquely identified with only 2 seconds of motion data. Achieving this level of accuracy required innovative AI techniques, but again, the data used was extremely sparse — just three spatial points for each user tracked over time.

Researchers found that the data they leave behind in virtual reality is more useful than a fingerprint to identify individuals. It also provides significantly more data to monetize, including a user’s height, handedness, gender, potential disability, strength, personal tics, etc.

Combine this data with the profiles already commonly being built at major companies and ad brokers, and you could see how this might be a bit of an issue in a country that’s literally too corrupt to pass even a basic privacy law for the internet era (there was just too much money to be made, sorry).

There have been so many studies at this point (including other previous studies of user VR data) showcasing how “anonymization” is a gibberish term. Yet the next time there’s a hack, breach, or huge batch of public data left unsecured in an Amazon cloud bucket, notice how quickly the term is immediately utilized as a catch all defense for sloppy privacy and security practices.

Well, shit.

[Broomstick]

Yet another reason I am not enthused about this "meta-verse" thing.

[bilateralrope]

Yet another reason I am not enthused about this "meta-verse" thing.

That's a reasonable position to take. The first problem I have with the metaverse is that I've yet to figure out what the companies pushing it intend it to be. I suspect that a lot of Facebook's problems with building it stemmed from them having no idea what they were aiming for.

[Broomstick]

My problem with it is that I don't see how it adds any benefit for me. That's leaving aside the cost of the hardware needed.

I sometimes think this was cooked up by a bunch of people who read about a cool concept in a SF novel and tried to make it a reality.

[bilateralrope]

My problem with it is that I don't see how it adds any benefit for me.

I can't even get started thinking about that problem until I know what the metaverse is.

[Mr Bean]

The basic problem with the Meta verse is that it's a decade early. VR is great I will sing it's praises but the hardware needed to push 120 FPS 8k-12k graphics does not exist yet and more the cheap hardware to do the same does not exist yet. What people want is the put on the VR device and your on the Holodeck and that's no where near to being here.

There are lots of nice ideas like floating around but about the only serious thing that's come out which seems useful is VR training devices (Which are far cheaper than training on the real thing) and augmented reality style pass through devices.

VR is still a novelty despite all the work that's been done and as far as I can tell Meta has spent most of it's VR money by taking large bags of cash and setting them on fire in the parking lot instead of doing useful research or focused investing. They want Vr they are not sure what it will look like so lets invested in everything and cancel 90% of it six months later.

[Zaune]

My problem with it is that I don't see how it adds any benefit for me. That's leaving aside the cost of the hardware needed.

I sometimes think this was cooked up by a bunch of people who read about a cool concept in a SF novel and tried to make it a reality.

Nah, that was stuff like Second Life. We've moved into another, rather more depressing stage where people read about a cool concept in an SF novel and try to turn it into a get-rich-quick scheme.