USCIB Foundation and BIAC Explore Privacy, Immersive Technologies and the Metaverse with OECD and State Dept

Left to right: Deputy Executive Director, Policy and Strategic Engagement, Business at OECD (BIAC) Nicole Primmer; USCIB’s Vice President, Digital Policy Cheryl Miller; OECD Deputy Director Audrey Plonk; USCIB President & CEO Whitney Baird; and US Department of State’s David Turnbull.

The USCIB Foundation and Business at OECD (BIAC) launched a joint report, Privacy, Immersive Technologies and the Metaverse, on July 18. The report highlights the promise of the metaverse from a business perspective in the context of the OECD Privacy Guidelines and data governance issues.  

The launch event included a high-level summary of report findings and a panel discussion with USCIB members Melinda Claybaugh, Privacy Policy Director, Meta, and Adam Ingle, Global Lead for Digital Policy, The LEGO Group. The event concluded with a lunch discussion with Audrey Plonk, Deputy Director, OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate (STI), Head of Division, Digital Economy Policy, OECD and David Turnbull, Foreign Service Officer with the US State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. 

The report is the culmination of four roundtables on four continents with tech experts, NGOs, and advocates to explore the privacy implications of the metaverse. It uses OECD guidelines as an organizing instrument for recommendations. The goal of this initiative is to reach the best possible privacy solutions in the most practical way. 

The report helps frame the metaverse conversation to provide the beginning of a policy dialogue.  

• The metaverse is meant to be an immersive, three-dimensional space that operates on multiple platforms and relies on shared data and technologies. In that space, people will interact with each other, with virtual objects, and with digitally rendered buildings, facilities, and landscapes. 

• As companies explore the possibilities of the metaverse, they also seek to understand the novel privacy risks it raises and how those risks might be addressed.  
• Realizing the promise of the metaverse relies on fostering user trust through implementation and adherence to coherent, broadly accepted privacy governance frameworks that provide effective protections but do not impede innovation. It is in this context that BIAC and the USCIB Foundation undertook this project to explore privacy issues raised by the metaverse, and to develop business-oriented evidence regarding the OECD Privacy Guidelines’ applicability in this emerging environment. 
  

  The USCIB Foundation and Business at OECD (BIAC) report launch event.

The report recommends that the OECD Digital Policy Committee, as a recognized convenor of multistakeholder dialogue and developer of consensus-based responses to policy challenges, consider the following:  

• Deepen and broaden the evidence base regarding the relevance and applicability of the OECD Privacy Guidelines in the metaverse, including through practical case studies and multi-stakeholder dialogue-based research.  

• Map OECD instruments, reports, and ongoing work relevant to privacy in the metaverse, including initiatives related to AI, international data transfers, child safety online, data sharing and data portability.  

• Consider the role of regulatory sandboxes and their utility in understanding the strengths and limitations of the OECD Privacy Guidelines as an oversight and policy development tool.  

• Ensure adequate consideration of the principle of Accountability and its role in effective data governance and consider whether its workable deployment in the metaverse could benefit from additional recommendations that would complement existing guidance.  

• Explore how privacy enhancing technologies and privacy by design can be deployed to facilitate privacy in the metaverse. Identify ways in which the OECD Privacy Guidelines, particularly the principle of accountability, can support their implementation, effectiveness, and ability to mitigate risk and enhance individuals’ privacy. 

“The business community does an excellent job of showing up to the table and giving us input. You can always have more voices and more companies at the table,” said Plonk 

“It’s amazing that we have Silicon Valley and the tech industry involved given how unknown the OECD was. The contributions from business have been important and valuable for a very long time. This report is a good example of the kind of cooperation and work that we can do,” Plonk continued. 

Read the full report here.