In a month when a number of high-profile scandals rocked Facebook, the social media giant announced it was changing the name of its parent company to Meta – a nod to the metaverse that Mark Zuckerberg and many other prominent figures in the tech industry believe will become the next generation of the internet.
The metaverse is currently still a concept, although the technology is being developed to create it. It is envisioned to be a virtual, digital world in which the user can be fully immersed, engaging in as broad a range of activities as the real world offers: socialising, education, gaming, shopping, and working. It will be a three-dimensional version of our two-dimensional internet, enabled by emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Although Meta’s announcement was largely met with ambivalence from the general public, in this year alone the company is investing $10 billion in VR and AR technologies. But with a slew of other tech giants, from Microsoft to Disney, announcing similar aspirations in recent weeks, critics are raising concerns about privacy in this brave new virtual world.
A metaverse of data
The metaverse pushes already murky issues surrounding privacy and data into uncharted territory, as the scale and types of data generated by the metaverse will be unprecedented. Current methods of measuring our clicks, searches, and time on conventional websites paints an unreliable picture of us, especially because people can share devices and accounts. The metaverse, though, could collect information on an individual’s body movements, eye movements, fingerprints and facial shape. Even on shared devices and shared accounts, the metaverse could know exactly who is using it, and where, at a specific time. The myriad pieces of information that make each of us unique could be quantified into accessible data. It could even map out the interior of a building from movements and interactions – so even if some members of a household are not part of the metaverse, they would still be indirectly affected.
There are implications for hackers to be in a very advantageous position if the metaverse’s defences are not secure enough. If it is to be used as a one-stop shop for people’s online needs, it will undoubtedly become a target for ransomware. Hackers could potentially be able to use biometric data collected on fingerprints, eyes, and faces to hack into bank and other accounts. Capturing faces and body movements could also make deepfake production more realistic, whilst footage of metaverse interactions could be used for blackmail in certain situations. Security needs to be the number one priority of this venture, otherwise very detailed personal information could fall into the wrong hands.
With data comes great responsibility
However, it’s not just rogue cyber-criminals that critics fear could abuse the enormous amount of data that the metaverse might harvest. Even putting past scandals like Cambridge Analytica’s exploitation of Facebook data to influence elections out of our minds, Mr Zuckerberg’s announcement came at time when the company was embroiled in a particularly damaging scandal. With a whistle-blower testifying before UK Parliament and the US Congress about Facebook’s knowing disregard for misinformation and disinformation, and the damaging mental health effects of the platform, confidence in the company is low. If Facebook cannot be trusted to take down dangerous content, can it be trusted with our biometric data and the intimate details of our home and work lives? In the hands of an authoritarian government, this data could be potentially lethal, and even in liberal democracies many people would be understandably uncomfortable with private companies having access to their most personal details.
It’s likely that it will be at least a decade before these aspirations become a reality, so there is time to ensure they are developed in a responsible way. Meta has stated that it has set aside $50 million for ensuring products are developed responsibly, and it intends to work with human and civil rights communities to ensure that they are “built in a way that’s inclusive and empowering”. Nevertheless, critics remain unconvinced, and it’s clear that careful regulation will be needed to ensure that this technology is implemented and used safely, and with regard for the privacy of the individuals who will use it.
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email webrequests@digitalis.com
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to webrequests@digitalis.com