IGF 2022 WS #212 Metaverse or Dataverse: Which “Verse” Should We Trust?

Organizer 1: Kathrin Morasch, Youth IGF Germany / Better Internet for Kids
Organizer 2: Elnur Karimov, Kyushu University
Organizer 3: Shadrach Ankrah, Tech Today Gh
Organizer 4: Pedro de Perdigão Lana, GEDAI/UFPR

Speaker 1: Elnur Karimov, Civil Society, Eastern European Group
Speaker 2: Marcel Krummenauer, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Shradha Pandey, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Moderator

Kathrin Morasch, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Online Moderator

Shadrach Ankrah, Technical Community, African Group

Rapporteur

Pedro de Perdigão Lana, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Format

Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min

Policy Question(s)

Who would be liable for cybercrimes committed inside the Metaverse, such as the fraudulent actions concerning cryptocurrencies?
Who would be the right holder of the creative products created inside the Metaverse, including intellectual property?
How and by whom must the cases of hate speech and sexual harassment inside the Metaverse be regulated?

Connection with previous Messages:

SDGs

9.1


Targets: (somehow I wasn't able to choose more than one above, but the SDGs would be : 8.3, 9.1, 16.1, 16b ) --> Among the SDG Targets, the proposed session is mostly related to the building of resilient infrastructure (9.1) which supports economic development and human well-being. The Metaverse as a proposed multi-angled comprehensive platform of the future where people will not only enjoy the entertainment facilities but also work, study, socialize etc. can turn out to be a failure or success. The result, however, will explicitly impact our path to many of the goals mentioned in the SDG Targets. Thus, it is important to set up a fair and resilient regulatory infrastructure for the Metaverse before publicly using it for various purposes. The regulation, on the other hand, must come after hot debates about the current issues we are facing in the social media - hate speech, cryptofrauds, intellectual property infringements, and so on.
By attempting to build a development-oriented policies for the Metaverse - at least laying down the fundamental questions that policymakers must be concerned by - the session contributes to the SDG Target 8.3. Finally, with its special focus on the combat against hate speech and sexual harassment on the Metaverse, it aims to address the Targets 16.1 and 16b which are again about the development of non-discriminatory and anti-violence laws and policies.

Description:

Defined by Meta, Metaverse is a sum of 3D spaces which will let us socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what we can imagine using virtual reality or augmented reality headsets. This term met a bigger audience after the renaming of Facebook company as Meta Platforms in 2021. Although many of the technologies to be used in the Meta Platforms are yet to be developed, it is probably a matter of time with the speed of the emergence of current visual and audiovisual technologies.
Beyond the hype created around the Metaverse as a single, universal and immersive virtual world that brings together many state-of-art technologies, there are already concerns like user safety, information privacy, and other social and legal issues increasingly discussed regarding the possible operation of the Metaverse. In fact, the Meta Platforms to be developed by Meta will not be the first of their kind; Facebook developed Facebook Horizons in 2019, a social virtual reality that was denounced for the sexual harassment that took place on the platform. Interestingly, Meta is not the only investor in such a hypothetical virtual platform. The investment of 177.1 million USD by South Korea in the development of Metaverse poses another question of the extent of public involvement on the platform, as well as the liability of governments or companies as the hosts of Metaverse.
The past experience with the Facebook Horizon as the first-ever Metaverse-like platform justifies the relevance of the question of privacy and data governance on the platform which consists of the focus of the workshop session. Especially, since the Metaverse is often presented as a decentralized platform connecting different gaming, social, educational, and other platforms, the fragility of the system to the breach of law, along with the impact of the to-be-established system on the rights of users must be questioned. The session aims to approach this focal point from two main angles:
1)legal liability for cyber crimes on the Metaverse, including frauds concerning cryptocurrencies and hate speech and sexual harassment;;
2)the impact of the Metaverse on the rights of creative people, such as intellectual property rights;

Expected Outcomes

The session expects to open a new debate and contribute to the emerging debates on the liability of platforms like Metaverse. Although it connects to the debates on the platform liability which has been mostly raised in the context of social media platforms on 2D spaces, the debate on the Metaverse adds the third dimension - decentralization. In addition, the session aims to be the first one opening up the debate on the cybercrimes, intellectual property and competition law aspects of the Metaverse. Furthermore, on the subject of cybercrime, since there are efforts to establish a new multi-stakeholder forum, the session aims to bring the topic of cybertrading to the fore and offer initial impulses, problems and solutions. The session outcomes will be solidified in a policy document by the Youth IGF Germany guiding various stakeholders from governments to academia to make policymakers think about the liability and impact of the Metaverse in a decentralized setup and feed into new research interests in the academia.

Hybrid Format: The session organizers find the round table a suitable format because the speakers are expected to see each other directly and interact easily, in case of collaboration on a certain kind of proposed regulations. Unlike other formats, the round table will also help the organizers to attract the attention of the listeners more effectively by making them physically part of the session and speakers’ panel. In this way, the session organizers aim to leave more time to the questions and comments by the participants.
Regarding the online participants, the physically close distance at the onsite event will be created by the online moderator for online participants.

Online Participation



Usage of IGF Official Tool.