Extract from Lisa Sotto and Samuel Grogan’s article “Privacy and Cybersecurity Risks in the Metaverse: 5 Steps to Protect Your Data”
As the metaverse soars in popularity, researchers estimate that this new virtual environment could generate global revenues of $13 trillion by 2030. The metaverse promises to augment and digitally disrupt a broad range of sectors, including retail, gaming, media and entertainment, banking and financial services, real estate, and insurance.
Companies are taking note of the massive potential of the metaverse and, according to one study, investment in the metaverse surpassed $120 billion in the first half of 2022 alone. It is clear that the metaverse will offer a plethora of opportunities for new business models, products and services. It is also clear that data is the fuel that will power these new opportunities. To succeed in the metaverse, businesses must consider how they will collect, use and manage data as they enter this uncharted virtual territory.
With the data-driven opportunities of the metaverse come a host of novel privacy and data security risks and legal compliance challenges. Laws and regulations designed to address issues raised by new technologies often lag behind their rapid development, and the metaverse is no exception. For instance, many countries are currently drafting laws to govern the development and deployment of AI, and proposals to regulate the collection and use of biometric data continue to proliferate across the globe. In addition, a wave of new comprehensive privacy laws continues to take the data world by storm.
