Frances Haugen, the infamous Facebook whistleblower, has now turned her attention to the Metaverse. She is concerned about Meta’s handling of privacy and highly sensitive information.
In a new interview, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has aimed at Meta, claiming that its version of the Metaverse will simply repeat all of its previous mistakes.
Haugen told Politico in an interview:
“They’ve made very grandiose promises about how there’s safety-by-design in the Metaverse. But if they don’t commit to transparency and access and other accountability measures, I can imagine just seeing a repeat of all the harms you currently see on Facebook.”
Haugen leaked thousands of internal Facebook documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and The Wall Street Journal in 2021. Her time working for the company has left her concerned about privacy and allowing the corporation to collect data on every aspect of users’ interactions in the Metaverse.
“I’m very concerned about the number of sensors involved.” “When we do the Metaverse, we have to put a lot more Facebook microphones and other kinds of sensors in our homes,” she explained.
“You don’t have much of a choice now about whether you want Facebook spying on you at home.” All we have to do is trust the company to do the right thing.”
Haugen isn’t the only one who is worried. According to a recent poll, 70% of people do not trust Meta to protect their privacy properly.
Andy Yen, CEO of encrypted email service ProtonMail, is also concerned about Big Tech behemoths like Meta. In an interview last week, he stated that his own company, Proton, will only be able to survive because of the goodwill of tech titans.
“Today, tech titans could remove us from the Internet with no legal or financial consequences,” he said.
Yen has previously expressed concerns about Big Tech gaining control of the Metaverse, telling Newsweek last year that Meta was “building a new infrastructure where they control everything.” They have control over the device, they have VR headsets, and you are now in their world, on their devices, on their platform.”
Yen stated that, given their track record, he does not believe we should trust Meta with such power, and that promises about privacy in the Metaverse are meaningless unless the company’s business model changes.
“At the end of the day, their business model revolves on taking your data and monetizing it. So, there is fundamentally always going to be a conflict between what they say and what they have to do to make money.”
Data Collection
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending civil liberties in the digital age. It, like Yen, believes that virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, and other wearables will make data collection and surveillance easier than ever before. They started in December:
“This data harvesting, which is sometimes done by companies with a history of putting profit ahead of safeguards, lays the groundwork for unprecedented intrusions into our lives, homes, and even thoughts.”
The EFF is concerned that data collected and used for targeted advertising will result in “biometric psychography,” with our deepest desires and inclinations for sale. Once gathered, the information could be monetized by third parties, even without our knowledge or consent.
The China Syndrome
While the Metaverse may appear to be a problem in the distant future, citizens in China are experiencing it daily, albeit in a different way.
WeChat is the most popular social media platform in China. It has a staggering user base of over one billion people. 850 million of them are active users. The app is amassing data on users in China on a never-before-seen scale. Furthermore, the Chinese government can monitor every word, image, and video on it.
WeChat was heavily chastised by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) before the Winter Olympics earlier this year. RSF urged journalists to take precautions against Chinese surveillance while reporting on the ground. “RSF advises journalists traveling to China to avoid downloading applications that could allow Chinese authorities to monitor them,” they said. WeChat and TikTok were among them.
