Some Philosophical Reflections about Privacy from an XR Journalist

@KentBye
Bye, K. (2023, January 6). Some Philosophical Reflections on Privacy from an XR Journalist. [Presentation]. Existing Law and Extended
Reality: A Research Symposium at Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, California, United States; Jen-Hsun Hwang Engineering Center.
Some Philosophical
Reflections on Privacy
from an XR Journalist

● My Journey into XR Ethics & Privacy
● Understanding Presence in XR
● Biometric Data from XR & Neuro-Rights
● Reality, Process Philosophy, & Inferences
● Metaverse Frameworks
● Contextually-Aware AI vs Privacy
● Challenges for Privacy Regulation

UploadVR’s April 2016 Article on Oculus’ Privacy
Policy Catches the Attention of Senator Franken
Mason,W. (2016,April 1). Oculus 'Always On' Services and Privacy Policy May Be a Cause for
Concern. UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/facebook-oculus-privacy/.
Durbin, J. (2016,April 7). Senator Al Franken Questions Oculus Over Privacy Concerns. UploadVR.
https://uploadvr.com/senator-al-franken-wants-answers-from-oculus-over-privacy-concerns/.

Voices of VR Privacy Coverage Starts May 2016

VR Privacy Summit at Stanford in 2018
Bye, K., Bailenson, J., Rosedale, P., & Outlaw, J. (2018, November 23). #717:VR Privacy Summit Organizer Highlights & Next Steps. Voices ofVR Podcast. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
https://voicesofvr.com/718-vr-privacy-summit-organizer-highlights-next-steps/

Allen,A. L. (2019, October 31). Presidential Address,“The Philosophy of Privacy and Digital Life,” 93 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association 21-38 (2019).,
Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4022657
Photo by Reiheld,,A. (2019, January 9).Twitter. https://twitter.com/AlisonReiheld/status/1083124129111396353.
Dr. Anita Allen’s Presidential Address at American
Philosophical Association Eastern Meeting 2019

“Comprehensive philosophies of privacy and
data protection are missing and scarcely
attempted. Privacy theorists abound who are
narrowly focused on ways to conceptualize
privacy or data protection that they believe will
facilitate better business practices or legal
regulations. The philosophy of privacy is a
project of greater magnitude, more
comprehensive, and cumulative.”
Allen Calls for a Comprehensive Philosophy of Privacy

Photo by
Laval Virtual Visionaries Think Tank 2019
Brainstorm on XR Ethics

Photo by
Bye, K. (2019, March 19). Ethics in XR is a BIG & complicated topic. Here are our original brainstorming notes attempting to map as many of the different moral dilemmas that come up in
designing for XR that we did during the @lavalvirtual think tank. pic.twitter.com/k7okhwy0hi. Twitter. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1108118748857278464

● Bye, K. (2016, April 28). The Human Experience of Virtual Reality: A Model of the VR Landscape [Presentation],
Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference, April 28, 2016 (San Jose, CA).
● Published on YouTube, May 3, 2016. Retrieved on November 10, 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acp0Ul0QlmI.
● Also Published on Voices of VR Podcast on May 4, 2016. Retrieved on November 10, 2021 from
https://voicesofvr.com/355-the-human-experience-of-virtual-reality-a-model-of-the-vr-landscape/.

Bye, K. (2019, March 19). Here's the Ethical Framework we came up at the @lavalvirtual think tank themed "Future dreaming: Designing for New Realities." Great two days with @sannabh
@laraashmorephd @skiprizzovr @victorocks @simonrichir, Marie Leblanc, & marc pallot.raw brainstorming notes to follow. PIC.TWITTER.COM/KSYYGM8M5L. Twitter. Retrieved January 5,
2023, from https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1108116834186919937

@KentBye
Bye, K. (2019, October 18). XR Ethics Manifesto. [Presentation] Greenlight's XR Strategy
Conference. Santa Clara, California; Microsoft Reactor.
XR Ethics Manifesto

Bye, K. (2019, October 18). XR Ethics Manifesto. [Presentation] Greenlight's XR Strategy Conference. Santa Clara, California; Microsoft Reactor.

Diversity,
Inclusion &
Accessibility
Virtual Clones
&
Identity
Business, Finance,
& Economics
Education
Metaverse Governance
Social Spaces:
Trolling,
Harassment,
& Online
Safety
Medicine
Erosion of Anonymity
& XR Privacy
IEEE Global Initiative on the Ethics of Extended Reality
● IEEE Standards Association (2022, June 6). IEEE Global Initiative on the Ethics of Extended Reality, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association.
Retrieved on July 6, 2022 from https://standards.ieee.org/industry-connections/ethics-extended-reality/.
● Bye, K. (2022, June 6). #1090: IEEE XR Ethics: Diversity, Inclusion, & Accessibility. Voices of VR Podcast. Retrieved July 6, 2022, from
https://voicesofvr.com/1090-ieee-xr-ethics-diversity-inclusion-accessibility/.

Photo by Amir Khidojatov of Kent Bye’s "A Primer on Presence, Immersive Storytelling, & Experiential Design." (2022, May 5)
Presented at Storycon: A collision of (he)art and technology. Brussels, Belgium; BOZAR - Centre for Fine Arts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_2_qvIymt4
A Primer on Presence,
Immersive Storytelling,
& Experiential Design

Slater’s Place Illusion & Plausibility Illusion (2009)
● Slater, M. (2009, Dec 14). Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
B: Biological Sciences, 364(1535), 3549–3557. doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0138.
● Images via Toast (2019, July 21). Richie's Plank Experience Oculus Quest Trailer. YouTube Retrieved on April 25, 2022 from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faNsP7ExSt0.
Plausibility Illusion
“the illusion that what is apparently
happening is really happening (even
though you know for sure that it is
not).”
Place Illusion
“It is the strong illusion of being in a
place in spite of the sure knowledge
that you are not there.”

Chertoff’s Review of Presence Theory Components (2009)
Chertoff, Dustin, "Exploring Additional Factors Of Presence" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3910.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3910

Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential marketing. Journal of marketing management, 15(1-3), 53-67.
Experiential Marketing: “Strategic Experiential Modules” (1999)
● Sense
● Feel
● Think
● Act
● Relate

“The process of using these dimensions to create such an
experience is known as experiential design” - Chertoff (2010)
● Chertoff, Dustin, "Exploring Additional Factors Of Presence" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3910. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3910
● Chertoff, D. B., Goldiez, B., & LaViola, J. J. (2010). Virtual Experience Test: A virtual environment evaluation questionnaire. 2010 IEEE Virtual Reality Conference (VR).
doi:10.1109/vr.2010.5444804
Experiential Design "originated from the marketing field
where it was used to encourage people to create meaningful
emotional and social connections to a product."

Cognitive &
Relational
Active
Aﬀective
Sensory

Mental & Social
Presence
Active
Presence
Emotional
Presence
Embodied &
Environmental
Presence

Making
Choices
Taking
Action
Emotional
Immersion
Sensory
Experience

VR & AR
Books
Film
Radio
Video Games
Internet
TV
Theatre
Mobile Phone
Oral
Storytelling

Skarbez, R., Brooks, Jr., F. P., & Whitton, M. C. (2017). A Survey of Presence and Related Concepts. ACM Computing Surveys, 50(6), 1–39. doi:10.1145/3134301
Survey of Presence Concepts (Skarbez et al, 2017)

Skarbez, R., Brooks, Jr., F. P., & Whitton, M. C. (2017). A Survey of Presence and Related Concepts. ACM Computing Surveys, 50(6), 1–39. doi:10.1145/3134301
Survey of Presence Concepts (Skarbez et al, 2017):
Social Presence Illusion & Copresence Illusion

Active Presence
Agency, Interactions, Dynamics,
Action, Locomotion, Exploration,
Spontaneity, Creativity, Will,
Engagement, Gameplay,
Intention, & Live Performance.
Emotional Presence
Emotional Immersion, Feelings,
Mood, Vibe, Color, Lighting,
Consonance & Dissonance
Cycles, Music, Story, Time,
Flow, Narrative Presence,
Empathy, & Compassion
Mental & Social Presence
Thoughts, Language, Choices,
Expectations & Novelty, Mental
Models, Plausibility, Coherence,
Attention, Suspension of Disbelief,
Puzzles, Mental Friction, Rules,
Social Presence, & Virtual Beings
Embodied & Environmental Presence
Self-Presence, Body, Embodiment,
Sensory Experience, Biometric &
Physiological Data, BCIs & Neural
Inputs, Haptics, Immersive Sound,
Spatial Presence, Environmental
Immersion, & Architecture
Bye, K. (2022, May 5) "A Primer on Presence, Immersive Storytelling, & Experiential Design." [Presentation]
Storycon:A collision of (he)art and technology. BOZAR. Brussels, Belgium.

Anumanchipalli, G.K., Chartier, J. & Chang, E.F. Speech synthesis from neural decoding of spoken sentences. Nature 568, 493–498 (2019, April 24).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1119-1

F8 2017: AI, Building 8 and More Technology Updates From Day Two. Facebook. (2017, April 19). https://about.fb.com/news/2017/04/f8-2017-day-2/.

Bernal, G. (2021,April 15). Developing Galea:An open source tool at the intersection ofVR and
neuroscience. MIT Media Lab. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/galea/.
neurojoe. (2020, November 19). Introducing: Galea. OpenBCI.
https://openbci.com/community/introducing-galea-bci-hmd-biosensing/.

Bernal, G. (2021,April 15). Developing Galea:An open source tool at the intersection ofVR and neuroscience. MIT Media Lab. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/galea/.

Eye Tracking and Pupil Response
Facial Scans
Movement Kinematics
Electrodermal Activity (EDA)
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
Skin Conductance Response (SCR)
Skin Conductance (SC)
Skin Temperature (SKT)
Body Temperature
Electromyography (EMG)
Mechanomyogram (MMG)
Strain-Based Sensor (SBS)
Electrocardiography (ECG / EKG)
Heart-RateVariability (HRV)
Respiratory (RSP)
Respiratory RateVariability (RRV)
Photoplethysmogram (PPG)
Impedance Plethysmography (IPG)
BloodVolume Pulse (BVP)
Electro-Oculogram (EOG)
Impedance Cardiography (ICG)
Gyrocardiography (GCG)
Ballistocardiography (BCG)
Magnetocardiography (MCG)
Seismocardiography (SCG)
Phonocardiogram (PCG)
Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM)
Acoustic Respiratory Signals (ARS)
Blood Pressure (BP)
Pulse Arrival Time (PAT)
Pulse Transit Time (PTT)
Electroretinogram (ERG)
Electrogastrogram (EGG)
Magnetogastrography (MGG)
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy-Based Cerebral
Oxiometry (NIRSCO)
Optically-Pumped Magnetoencephalography
(OP-MEG)
Optically-Pumped Magnetometers
Magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG)
Time Domain Functional Near-Infrared
Spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS)
Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)
High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography
(HD-DOT)
Intracranial Pressure (ICP)
Electrocorticography (ECoG)
Intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG)
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
Local Field Potential (LFP)
Transcranial Doppler (TCD)
Somatosensory Evoked Potential (SSEP)
Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential (BAEP)
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
(NMR or MRS)
Subdural EEG (sdEEG)
Intracranial EEG (icEEG)
Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (DCS)
Subdermal EEG Needle
Superconducting QUantum Interface Device
(SQUID)
Microneurography
List of Physiological & Biometric Data
Bye, K. (2021, May 30).Twitter. https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1399143885427728384

Mental Thoughts
Cognitive Processes
Cognitive Load
Social Presence
Active Presence
Behaviors
Intention
Actions
Movement
Emotional Presence
Aﬀective State
Emotional Sentiment
Facial Expression
Microexpressions
Embodied Presence
Stress / Arousal
Physiological Reactions
Eye Gaze /Attention
Body Language
Muscle Fatigue Bye, K. (2021, June 2) "State of Privacy in XR & Neuro-Tech: Conceptual Frames" Presentation at the
VRARA Global Summit (Online). Recording available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIpD4-gYImU

(1) The right to identity, or the ability to
control both one’s physical and mental
integrity
(2) The right to agency, or the freedom of
thought and free will to choose one’s own
actions
(3) The right to mental privacy, or the
ability to keep thoughts protected against
disclosure
(4) The right to fair access to mental
augmentation, or the ability to ensure that
the benefits of improvements to sensory and
mental capacity through neurotechnology
are distributed justly in the population.
(5) The right to protection from
algorithmic bias, or the ability to ensure
that technologies do not insert prejudices.
Proposed Neuro-Rights
Yuste, R.,Genser, J. & Herrmann, S. "It's Time for Neuro-Rights." Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, no. 18, 2021. pp 154-164. JSTOR,
https://www.cirsd.org/en/horizons/horizons-winter-2021-issue-no-18/its-time-for-neuro--rights. Accessed 31 Mar. 2021.

Ienca, M. (2021, September 24). On Neurorights. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.701258
Ienca’s Taxonomy of Neuro-Rights Includes
Philosophical Concepts like Cognitive Liberty,
Agency & Free Will, Identity, & Mental Privacy

Mental Privacy
Cognitive Liberty
Freedom of Thought
Mental Freedom
Mental Integrity
Psychological Continuity
Active Presence
Agency
Free Will
Emotional Presence
Embodied Presence
Personhood
Neuroprivacy
Personal Identity
Bye, K. (2023, January 6). Some Philosophical Reflections on Privacy from an XR Journalist. [Presentation].
Existing Law and Extended Reality:A Research Symposium at Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, California,
United States; Jen-Hsun Hwang Engineering Center.

Sacharin, V., Schlegel, K., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). Geneva Emotion Wheel rating study (Report). Geneva, Switzerland: University of Geneva, Swiss Center for Affective
Sciences. Retrieved on November 13, 2021 from https://www.unige.ch/cisa/files/4514/6720/4016/Geneva_Emotion_Wheel_Rating_Study_Report_2012_08_11_2.0.pdf.
Tschannen-Moran, B. (2012, February). Appreciative Empathy: New Frameworks for New Conversations. International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry: AI Practitioner. Volume 14
Number 1. Retrieved November 14, 2021 from http://www.schooltransformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Appreciative_Empathy.pdf
Feelings Needs

Algorithmic Bias
Kantayya, S. (Director). (2020). Coded Bias [Film]. 7th Empire Media, JustFilms Inquiry, & Chicken & Egg Pictures.

Diller, A., Ayim, M., Pauly Morgan, K., & Houston, B. (1996). Figure 8.1 (p. 107). In The Gender Question in Education: Theory, Pedagogy, & Politics. Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group.
Axes of Privilege, Domination, & Oppression to Help
Understand the Dynamics of Bias Harms & Access to Tech

Kröger, J.L., Lutz, O.HM., Müller, F. (2020). What Does Your Gaze Reveal About You? On the Privacy Implications of Eye Tracking. In: Friedewald, M., Önen, M., Lievens, E.,
Krenn, S., Fricker, S. (eds) Privacy and Identity Management. Data for Better Living: AI and Privacy. Privacy and Identity 2019. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication
Technology, vol 576. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42504-3_15
Psychographic Inferences from Eye Gaze Data

● Bye, K. (2021, March 29). 23/ @FBRealityLabs research has a poster at #IEEEVR2021 where they can estimate your eye gaze in a VR scene based on your head &
hand pose... Twitter. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/1376409069406220290
● Emery, K. J., Zannoli, M., Xiao, L., Warren, J., & Talathi, S. S. (2021). Estimating Gaze From Head and Hand Pose and Scene Images for Open-Ended Exploration in VR
Environments. 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW). doi:10.1109/vrw52623.2021.00159
AI + Sensor Fusion Implications:
Estimate Eye Gaze from Head Pose & Hand Pose

These Qualities Are Simultaneous & Inform One Another

● Bye, K., & Reardon, T. (2021, March 30). #987: The Neuroscience of Neuromotor Interfaces + Privacy Implications with Facebook Reality Labs' Thomas Reardon. Voices
of VR Podcast. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
https://voicesofvr.com/987-the-neuroscience-of-neuromotor-interfaces-privacy-implications-with-facebook-reality-labs-thomas-reardon-2/
● Bye, K., & Wetmore, D. (2019, September 12). #814: Neuroscience & VR: Using Muscles & EMG for neural interfaces with CTRL-Labs. Voices of VR Podcast. Retrieved
January 4, 2023, from https://voicesofvr.com/814-neuroscience-vr-using-muscles-emg-for-neural-interfaces-with-ctrl-labs/
Meta’s Non-Invasive Neural Interface Can Detect
Intention to Move Down to a Single Motor Neuron

Joseph O'Hagan, Pejman Saeghe, Jan Gugenheimer, Daniel Medeiros, Karola Marky, Mohamed Khamis, and Mark McGill. (2022, December) Privacy-Enhancing Technology and
Everyday Augmented Reality: Understanding Bystanders’ Varying Needs for Awareness and Consent. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous
Technologies. 6, 4, Article 177, 48 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3569501. [pre-print image courtesy of author]
Bystander Privacy Spectrum of AR Data Processing

David J. Chalmers on VR as a “Genuine Reality” (2022)
Chalmers, D. J. (2022). Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problem of Philosophy. (pg xvii and 206) Penguin Books.
"The central thesis of this book is:
Virtual reality is genuine reality. Or at
least, virtual realities are genuine
realities. Virtual worlds need not be
second-class realities. They can be
first-class realities." (pg. xvii)
"If I’m right, VR devices aren’t illusion
machines; they’re reality machines." (pg.
206)

Milgram & Kishino: “Real vs. Virtual” Dichotomy (1994)
Milgram, P. and Kishino, F. (1994) A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays. IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, E77-D, 1321-1329.
https://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=e77-d_12_1321

“Physical vs. Virtual” Dichotomy of XR Spectrum
Modified with Clay Bavor (2017, May 18) Google IO 2017 Day 2 Keynote, https://twitter.com/kentbye/status/865244388057694208
Real [Physical]
Environment
Virtual Environment
Physical
Reality
Augmented
Reality
(AR)
Virtual
Reality
(VR)

The Biggest Difference in the Physical vs Virtual is
within the Embodied & Environmental Presence

“Process philosophy is based on the premise that being is
dynamic and that the dynamic nature of being should be
the primary focus of any comprehensive philosophical
account of reality and our place within it. Even though we
experience our world and ourselves as continuously
changing, Western metaphysics has long been obsessed
with describing reality as an assembly of static individuals
whose dynamic features are either taken to be mere
appearances or ontologically secondary and derivative.”
“Process Philosophy” as explained by
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Seibt, J. (Fall 2021 Edition) "Process Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Retrieved on December 10, 2021 from
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2021/entries/process-philosophy/.

Chemistry
Biology
Psychology
Physics
Material Reality
Substance
Metaphysics
Whole/Part
Mereological
Relations of
Event Sequences
(Philosophy of Organism)
Process & Potential
Process-Relational
Metaphysics
vs

Eastman, T. E. (2020). Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, reality and context. (pp. 72) Rowman & Littleﬁeld.
“The central thesis of the Relational Reality model is
that the classical, conventional conception of the
relationship between physical objects and their
presumed direct mapping to discrete facts must be
reconceived such that physical things are understood
as the outcome of real histories of quantum events.
This requires a reconceptualization of ontological and
contextual properties as mutually implicative features
of every quantum event (thus, inevitably, the triad of
input-output-context). In this Relational Realist
framework, quantum events are identified as
measurement outcomes that refer to corresponding
physical observables.The theory then provides the
means of relating these events.”
-Timothy Eastman
“Physical things are the outcome
of real histories of quantum events”

Brittan Heller,Watching Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Immersive Technology, Biometric Psychography, and the Law, 23
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment andTechnology Law 1 (2021) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/jetlaw/vol23/iss1/1
Existing Biometrics Laws Defined by Identity & PII.
What about Inferences from XR data?
Heller Introduces “Biometric Psychography” Concept.

Biometric
Psychography
Identity
Miller, M.R., Herrera, F., Jun, H. et al. Personal identifiability of user tracking data during
observation of 360-degreeVR video. Sci Rep 10, 17404 (2020).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74486-y

Privacy as Static Privacy as Dynamic
Identity
Personally-Identiﬁable
Information
Immutable Traits
Stored Forever
Context Independent
Psychographic Proﬁle
Character, Personality, &
Contextual Preferences
Transient Likes/Dislikes
Processed Real-time
Context-Dependent

Oculus Blog. (2022, October 10). Meta Quest Pro: Built with Privacy in Mind. Meta QuestVR Headsets,Accessories & Equipment. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://www.oculus.com/blog/meta-quest-pro-privacy/
Meta Emphasizes Privacy Engineering to Mitigate PII Leaks.
But What About Real-Time Psychographic Inferences?

● Bye, K., & Segall, M. (2020, December 10). #965: Primer onWhitehead's Process Philosophy as a Paradigm Shift & Foundation for Experiential Design. Voices ofVR Podcast. Retrieved
January 5, 2023, from https://voicesofvr.com/primer-on-whiteheads-process-philosophy-as-a-paradigm-shift-foundation-for-experiential-design/
● Bye, K., & Maxwell, G. (2022, October 27). #1147:Thirteen Philosophers on the Problem of Opposites: Grant Maxwell's Integration & Difference Book & Archetypal Approaches to
Character.Voices ofVR Podcast. Retrieved January 5, 2023, from
https://voicesofvr.com/1147-thirteen-philosophers-on-the-problem-of-opposites-grant-maxwells-integration-difference-book-archetypal-approaches-to-character/
Process-Relational Thinking Helps to Frame
the Contextual & Relational Nature of XR Privacy

Ball, M. (2021, June 29). Framework for the Metaverse [Part I of The Metaverse Primer]. MatthewBall.vc. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from
https://www.matthewball.vc/all/forwardtothemetaverseprimer.
Matthew Ball’s Definition of the Metaverse
“The Metaverse is a massively
scaled and interoperable network
of real-time rendered 3D virtual
worlds which can be experienced
synchronously and persistently by
an effectively unlimited number of
users with an individual sense of
presence, and with continuity of
data, such as identity, history,
entitlements, objects,
communications, and payments.”`

“The most comprehensive philosophy of
privacy would engage the insights of
computer and information sciences, and
other academic disciplines, such as
psychology, sociology, economics, and
law, where theories of privacy have
been advanced since the 1970s.”
The Interdisciplinary Nature of the Philosophy of Privacy

Lessig’s Pathetic Dot Theory
Market
Law
Cultural
Norms
Technology Architecture
& Code
User
Lessig, Lawrence, (2006). Code 2.0, Chapter: What Things Regulate ( pp. 120–137). New York : Basic Books

Seibt, J. (2015). “Non-Transitive Parthood, Leveled Mereology, and the Representation of Emergent Parts of Processes,” Grazer Philosophische Studien, 91: 165–190.
Retrieved on January 17, 2022 from https://philarchive.org/archive/SEISNP.
“Processes have mereological structure”

Lessig’s Pathetic
Dot Theory
Nested Contexts
vs
Market
Law
Cultural
Norms
Technology
Architecture
& Code
User
Lessig, Lawrence, (2006). Code 2.0, Chapter: What Things Regulate ( pp. 120–137). New York : Basic Books

Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Earth

Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Network
Architecture
Earth

Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Network
Architecture
Earth
XR Hardware

OS Code
Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Network
Architecture
Earth
XR Hardware

OS Code
App Code
Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Network
Architecture
Earth
XR Hardware

OS Code
App Code
User
Experience
Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Network
Architecture
Earth
XR Hardware

Network Architecture
XR Hardware
Operating System & Game Engine
Apps, Experiences, & Context
User Experience
(Qualities of Presence, Character, Story, etc.)
Design Guidelines
Economy
Laws
Culture
Earth
OS Code
App Code
User
Experience
Economy
Laws
Culture
Design
Guidelines
Network
Architecture
Earth
XR Hardware

Human Rights
Principles
Governments
& Laws
XR Companies
OS
Ethical
Design
Principles
XR
Experiences
Users
XR Hardware

How do we preserve the Right
to Mental Privacy in XR?
Biometrically-inferred psychographic data from
XR is not covered by existing privacy laws.
Some biometric user data will be contextually-
relevant & required for some XR apps to
function, which users should be able to consent
to sharing within the context of those apps.
Companies require users to consent to their
Terms of Service & Privacy Policies, which do
not prevent them them from recording &
monetizing user data, extrapolating biometric
psychographic information, or using it for
contextually-aware AI, but they have limited
what third party developers can do with that
same data.
Human Rights
Principles
International Organizations International Laws &
Human Rights Laws
UN Guiding
Principles on
Business &
Human Rights
Neuro-Rights
Initiative
Right to
Mental
Privacy
Operating
System
XR
Hardware
Ethical
Design
Principles?
XR User’s Context & Data
Third-Party
XR Developers
XR Experiences
that Require User
Data to Operate
US Government
Lobbyists European
Union
GDPR
XR Companies
State
Laws
Federal
Laws
Oversight & Enforcement
New
Federal
Privacy
Law?
Monetizing
User Data &
Biometric
Psychography?
Contextually
-Aware AI?
Terms of
Service
Privacy
Policy
App
Store
Developer
Terms of
Service

Meta is Working Towards “Contextually-Aware AI” in AR
Teaching AI to perceive theWorldThroughYour Eyes. Meta AI. (2021, October 14). Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
https://ai.facebook.com/blog/teaching-ai-to-perceive-the-world-through-your-eyes/

Teaching AI to perceive theWorldThroughYour Eyes. Meta AI. (2021, October 14). Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
“Where did I put grandma’s watch?”
Meta’s Speculative Example of AR + Episodic Memory AI

● Egocentric 4D perception (EGO4D). (2021, October 14). Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://ego4d-data.org/#challenges
● Teaching AI to perceive theWorldThroughYour Eyes. Meta AI. (2021, October 14). Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
Meta’s Ego4D Challenges Push the Limits of What
Egocentric POV, Contextually-Aware AI Might Be Able to Do
What
happened
when?
What
will I do
next?
What am
I doing
& how?
Who said
what
when?
How are we
interacting?

“The future of HCI demands an exceptionally
easy-to-use, reliable, and private interface that
lets us remain completely present in the real
world at all times. That interface will require
many innovations in order to become the
primary way we interact with the digital world.
Two of the most critical elements are
contextually-aware AI that understands your
commands and actions as well as the context
and environment around you, and technology to
let you communicate with the system
effortlessly — an approach we call
ultra-low-friction input. The AI will make deep
inferences about what information you might
need or things you might want to do in various
contexts, based on an understanding of you
and your surroundings, and will present you
with a tailored set of choices.”
Inside Facebook Reality Labs:Wrist-based interaction for the next computing platform.Tech at Meta. (2021, March 18). Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
https://tech.facebook.com/reality-labs/2021/3/inside-facebook-reality-labs-wrist-based-interaction-for-the-next-computing-platform/
Meta Sees “Contextually-Aware AI” as Future of HCI

Role of Context in Allen’s Four Needs for a
Comprehensive Philosophy of Privacy
“A comprehensive philosophy of privacy needs
1) an account of definition and meaning;
2) an account of value, ethical and other
values;
3) an account of political dimensions of privacy;
and
4) context-specific practical applications and
implications that demonstrate the
explanatory power and import of the
accounts defended.”

Solove, D. J. (2010). Understanding Privacy. Harvard University Press.
“In terms of generality, I argue that
privacy should be conceptualized from
the bottom up rather than the top down,
from particular contexts rather than in
the abstract…”
“In focusing on privacy problems, my
approach seeks to be contextual
without being overly tied to specific
contexts, flexible enough to
accommodate changing attitudes
toward privacy, yet firm enough to
remain stable and useful.”
Solove’s Approach to Privacy & Context

Image viaYan Shvartzshnaider (April 15, 2020)
https://twitter.com/ynotez/status/1250578500588879873
Nissenbaum, H. (2010). Privacy in Context:Technology, Policy, and
the Integrity of Social Life. Stanford University Press.

HumanCenteredDesignE. (2021, March 9). 2021 Distinguished Lecture: Helen Nissenbaum, "Contextual Integrity".YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPwmC0Sfe50.

Young: “Identity is Socially Constructed & Contextual”
Young, K., & The Stoa. (2020, October 12). Internet identity and Our Digital Selves with Kaliya Young (Identity Woman). Retrieved April 02, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-9h7v4N39s
Young, K., & The Stoa. (2020, October 12). Internet Identity and Our Digital Selves with Kaliya Young (Identity Woman). Retrieved April 02, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-9h7v4N39s

Nissenbaum, H. F. (2010). Privacy in context: technology, policy, and the integrity of social life. (pg 130). Stanford Law Books.
“By contexts, I mean structured social settings with characteristics that have
evolved over time (sometimes long periods of time) and are subject to a host of
causes and contingencies of purpose, place, culture, historical accident, and
more. Familiar to those of us living in modern industrial societies are contexts of
health care, education, employment, religion, family, and the commercial
marketplace. In these contexts we act and interact with others, individually and
collectively, as coworkers, professionals, clients, teachers, students, citizens,
family members, club members, congregants, and neighbors. We relax with
family, commune with neighbors, go to work, seek medical care, attend school
and religious services, visit friends, consult with psychiatrists, hire lawyers, cast
votes, and go shopping, banking, dancing, and to concerts.”

● Egocentric 4D perception (EGO4D). (2021, October 14). Retrieved January 5, 2023, from https://ego4d-data.org/#challenges
● Teaching AI to perceive theWorldThroughYour Eyes. Meta AI. (2021, October 14). Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
What are the Privacy Guardrails
for Always-On, Contextually-Aware AI?
What
happened
when?
What
will I do
next?
What am
I doing
& how?
Who said
what
when?
How are we
interacting?

Do We Need a Comprehensive Philosophy of Privacy
to Define Legal Guardrails for XR & NeuroTech?
“A comprehensive philosophy of privacy needs
1) an account of definition and meaning;
2) an account of value, ethical and other
values;
3) an account of political dimensions of privacy;
and
4) context-specific practical applications and
implications that demonstrate the
explanatory power and import of the
accounts defended.”

Ienca, M. (2021, September 24). On Neurorights. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.701258
How to Define & Regulate Philosophical
Concepts like Cognitive Liberty, Agency & Free
Will, Identity, & Mental Privacy?

Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. PublicAffairs.
“One explanation for surveillance capitalism’s
many triumphs floats above them all: it is
unprecedented. The unprecedented is
necessarily unrecognizable. When we encounter
something unprecedented, we automatically
interpret it through the lenses of familiar
categories, thereby rendering invisible precisely
that which is unprecedented.”
Zuboff on the Unprecedented Nature of Surveillance
Capitalism as the Primary Economic Driver of Tech

Collingridge's Dilemma Graphic by Fabio Besti Interdisciplinary Design reprinted from Besti, F. & Samorè, F. (2018) Responsibility Driven Design for the Future Self-Driving
Society: Autonomous systems and the complex challenges to designing a responsible, driverless future. Giannino Bassetti Foundation. Retrieved on January 5, 2022 from
https://selfdrivingsociety.fondazionebassetti.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Responsibility-driven-design-for-the-future-self-driving-society.pdf.
Visualizing the Collingridge Dilemma

Collingridge, D. (1980) The Social Control of Technology. (pp. 17-18) Frances Pinter (Publishers) Ltd., London, United Kingdom.
“Our understanding of the interactions
between technology and society is so
poor that the harmful social
consequences of the fully developed
technology cannot be predicted with
sufficient confidence to justify the
imposition of controls.This is the first
horn of the dilemma of control.”
“The second horn is that by the time a
technology is sufficiently well developed
and diffused for its unwanted social
consequences to become apparent, it is
no longer easily controlled. Control may
still be possible, but it has become very
difficult, expensive and slow.What
happens is that society and the rest of its
technology gradually adjust to the new
technology, so that when it is fully
developed any major change in the new
technology requires changes in many
other technologies and social and
economic institutions, making its control
very disruptive and expensive.”
The Collingridge Dilemma (1980)

Marchant, G. E. (2011). The Growing Gap Between Emerging Technologies and the Law. (pp. 19) The Growing Gap Between Emerging Technologies and Legal-Ethical
Oversight, 19–33. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1356-7_2
“A series of concurrent technological
revolutions are rapidly transforming economic,
social and personal domains, now and even
more so in the imminent future (Roco and
Bainbridge 2003; Garreau 2005).These current
and pending emerging technological
revolutions include information technologies,
communication technologies,
nanotechnologies, biotechnology, regenerative
and reproductive medicine, robotics,
neuroscience, surveillance technologies, and
synthetic biology. Perhaps even more
important than the degree and breadth of
these technological changes considered
individually or collectively is the exponential
pace at which the successive waves of
technical change are washing over us
(Kurzweil 2005).”
“In contrast to this accelerating pace of
technology, the legal frameworks that society
relies on to regulate and manage emerging
technologies have not evolved as rapidly,
fueling concerns about a growing gap between
the rate of technological change and
management of that change through legal
mechanisms (Moses 2007). Increasingly, the
traditional legal tools of notice-and-comment
rulemaking, legislation and judicial review are
being left behind by emerging technologies,
struggling to cope with even yesterday’s
technologies.
The consequence of this growing gap between
the pace of technology and law is increasingly
outdated and ineffective legal structures,
institutions and processes to regulate
emerging technologies.”
The Technology Pacing Gap

Marchant, G. E. (2011). Addressing the Pacing Problem. (pp. 199) The Growing Gap Between Emerging Technologies and Legal-Ethical Oversight, 199–205.
doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1356-7_13, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
“The central conclusion from the cumulative insights of the
contributions to this volume is that existing regulatory systems and
ethical frameworks are inadequate to provide effective, meaningful
and timely oversight of the current and future generations of
emerging technologies.Technologies such as genetics, robotics,
information technologies, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and
neuroscience are racing forward at a pace of technology
development that has never before been experienced in human
history. In contrast, our traditional government oversight systems
are mired in stagnation, ossification and bureaucratic inertia, and are
seriously and increasingly lagging behind the new technologies
accelerating into the future.”
Addressing the Pacing Problem

Hope in How the EU Developed GDPR
Buttarelli, G. (2015, September 11). Towards a New Digital Ethics: Data, Dignity and Technology. European Data Protection Supervisor. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
https://edps.europa.eu/data-protection/our-work/publications/opinions/towards-new-digital-ethics-data-dignity-and_en

● Is GDPR Enough?
● Can it Be Enforced?
● Will there be New XR /
Metaverse Business
Models Beyond
Surveillance
Capitalism?
●
Schechner, S. (2023, January 4). Meta fined over $400 million in EU for serving ads based on online activity. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from
https://www.wsj.com/articles/meta-fined-more-than-400-million-for-sending-ads-based-on-online-activity-11672844441

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