The Advent of Truly Personal Data in Immersive Tech

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, also called AR & VR, are the latest development in immersive technology. Every few years a new cycle of tech devices is released, with each one more immersive than its predecessor. The leaps and bounds of tech advancement are rapidly blurring the lines between ethereal and virtual. Improved immersion benefits us in many ways. Apple pay and Venmo bridge the gap between your wallet and the marketplace, growing the economy through efficiency in the marketplace. Satellite enabled smart phones improve communication to light speed. Improved robotics in manufacturing allows for cheaper, streamlined production.

The ledger of interactions between us and our technology is called data, simultaneously recorded in the memory of our personal devices and sometimes into massive corporate data warehouses.

Recently, we have started to use data to further improve our interactions with technology by analyzing the patterns in our habits. Through analysis of our personal data we can make predictions about what we will do next, this process of using data to make insights into future behavior is a key part of data science. The most commercially appealing use of data science is in predicting consumer behavior by analyzing the shopping the habits of a consumer and predicting their next purchase. This model of predictive consumer behavior can be applied to many industries, from Netflix’s model of movie recommendations to Pandora’s playlist generation.

Many of these new tech companies thrive on the constant intake of user data, requiring it for product development and growth. Currently, data produced through our interaction with technology is owned by the owner of said technology, unless stated otherwise in a terms of use contract, meaning that the data can be used or distributed without any consent by the user. For the most part, this is relatively harmless, and for the benefit of the consumer, resulting in a more pleasurable user experience, with fewer bugs and other issues than if this data was not taken. However, current legislature is not up to the task of handling newer, more immersive technology such as AR. Andrew Yang, a candidate in the democratic primaries, has focused his attention on raising issues such as personal data rights and the regulation of emerging technologies such as AI. An example of a new technology requiring reactionary legislature is in the court case United States vs Causby.

In 1946 the US military was flying planes at a very low altitude over chicken farmer, Thomas Causby’s farm, about 80ft in the air. Causby claimed his property was from the earth under his farm, up to space, and the military claimed that all airspace above land was public property. Regarding property law according to US law, there are two uses for property, each having an impact on how it should be owned and regulated. The first is personal use, giving rights to the property owner, the second being a utilitarian viewpoint, that land should be used to its maximum potential for society. In the case of US vs. Causby, the supreme court ruled with both considerations for both uses of the property; that the airspace up to low altitude was the property of Causby, but that his property did not extend up infinitely. In 1946, air flight was being developed at an unprecedented rate due to the second world war, and new legislature had to be enacted to regulate it.

United States vs. Causby is an example of where the concept of personal property, in the eyes of the court, was changed due to the emergence of a new technology. This case is becoming relevant again because of the mainstream introduction of drones flying over private property. It can be expected that in the coming years, a court case will arise setting precedence on the definition of personal property in the age of truly immersive technologies such as AR.

Andrew Yang’s “Data as a Property Right”

As data scientists we leverage this new foundation of big data to improve our understanding of the world and its intricacies. With each iteration of immersive technology, the interaction between us and the virtual environment is becoming more intimate. It is impossible to divorce the intrusiveness nature of personal data when we welcome tech into every facet of our life. Considerations need to be made for the proper use of personal data and the subsequent analysis of it, so that concepts such as George Orwell’s “ThoughtCrimes” stay just that, concepts.

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