{"id":391,"date":"2016-12-13T12:33:48","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T18:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/?p=391"},"modified":"2016-12-13T12:33:48","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T18:33:48","slug":"the-augmented-world-legal-and-privacy-perspectives-on-augmented-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericlambert.net\/blog\/2016\/12\/13\/the-augmented-world-legal-and-privacy-perspectives-on-augmented-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"The Augmented World — Legal and Privacy Perspectives on Augmented Reality (AR)"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve likely heard that\u00a0Augmented Reality (AR) is the next technology that will transform our lives. You may not realize that AR has been here for years. You’ve seen it on NFL broadcasts when the first down line and down\/yardage appear on the screen under players’ feet. You’ve seen it in\u00a0the Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland when ghosts seem to appear in the mirror riding with you in your cart. You’ve seen it in cars and fighter jets when speed and other data is superimposed onto the windshield through a heads-up display. You’re seeing it in the explosion of Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Go around the world.\u00a0AR\u00a0will affect all sectors, much as the World Wide Web did in the mid-1990s.\u00a0Any new technology such as AR brings with it questions on how<\/em> it fits under the umbrella of existing legal and privacy laws, where<\/em> it pushes the boundaries and requires adjustments to the size and shape of the legal and regulatory umbrella, and when<\/em>\u00a0a new technology leads to a fundamental shift in\u00a0certain areas of law. This article will define augmented reality and the augmented world, and analyze its impact on the legal and privacy landscape.<\/p>\n

What is “augmented reality” and the “augmented world?”<\/strong><\/h1>\n

One of the hallmarks\u00a0of an\u00a0emerging technology is that it is not easily defined.\u00a0Similar to the “Internet of Things<\/a>,” AR means different things to different people, can exist as a group of related technologies instead of a single technology, and is still developing.\u00a0However, there are certain common elements among existing\u00a0AR technologies\u00a0from which a basic definition can be distilled.<\/p>\n

I would define “augmented reality<\/strong><\/em>” as “a process, technology, or device that presents a\u00a0user with real-world information, commonly but not limited to audiovisual imagery,\u00a0<\/strong>augmented<\/strong><\/em> with additional contextual data elements layered on top of\u00a0the real-world information, by (1)\u00a0collecting\u00a0real-world audiovisual imagery, properties, and other data; (2) processing the real-world data via remote servers to identify elements, such as real-world objects, to augment with supplemental contextual data;\u00a0and (3) presenting\u00a0in real time\u00a0supplemental\u00a0contextual data overlaid on the real-world data.<\/strong>”\u00a0The real world as augmented through various AR systems and platforms can be referred to as the “augmented world<\/strong><\/em>.”\u00a0AR and the augmented world differs from “virtual reality” (VR) systems and platforms, such as the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard, in that VR replaces<\/strong><\/em> the user’s view of the real world\u00a0with\u00a0a wholly digitally-created virtual world,\u00a0where AR augments<\/strong><\/em> the user’s view of the real world with additional digital data.<\/p>\n

“Passive” AR (what I call “first-generation AR”) is a fixed system — you receive augmented information but do not do so interactively, such as going through the Haunted Mansion ride or watching your television set.\u00a0The next generation of AR is “active,” meaning that AR will be delivered in a changing environment, and the augmented world will be viewed, through a device you carry or wear.\u00a0Google Glass and the forthcoming Microsoft HoloLens are examples of “active AR”\u00a0systems with dedicated hardware; when\u00a0worn,\u00a0the world is augmented with digital data superimposed on the real-time view of the world.\u00a0However, AR has found ways to use existing hardware — your smartphone.\u00a0HP’s Aurasma platform is an early example of an active AR system that uses your smartphone’s camera and screen to\u00a0create digital content superimposed on the real world. What AR has needed to go fully mainstream was a killer app that found a way for AR to appeal to the masses, and it now has one — Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Go.\u00a0Within days of\u00a0its launch in early July, TechCrunch reported<\/a> that Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Go had an average daily user base of over 20 million users<\/strong>.\u00a0Some declared it the biggest “stealth health” app of all time as it was getting users out and walking.<\/p>\n

Active AR has the capacity to change how people interact with the world, and with each other. It is\u00a0an immersive and engaging user experience. It has the capacity to change the worlds of shopping, education and training, law enforcement, maintenance, healthcare, and gaming, and others. Consider an AR system that shows reviews, product data, and comparative prices while looking at a shelf display; identifies an object or person approaching you\u00a0and makes it glow, flash, or otherwise stand out\u00a0to give you more time to avoid a collision;\u00a0gives you information on an artist, or the ability to hear or see commentary, while looking at a painting or sculpture; identifies to a police officer in real time whether a weapon brandished by a suspect is real or fake; or shows you in real time\u00a0how to\u00a0repair a household item (or how to administer emergency aid) through images placed on that item or on a stricken individual.\u00a0For some, the augmented world\u00a0will be life-altering, such as a headset as assistive technology which reads road signs aloud to a blind person or announces that a vehicle is coming (and how far away it is) when the user looks in the vehicle’s direction.\u00a0For others, the ability to collect, process and augment real-world data in real time could be viewed\u00a0as a further invasion of privacy, or worse, technology that could be used for illegal or immoral purposes.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0with any new technology, there will be\u00a0challenges from a legal and digital perspective. A well-known\u00a0example of this is\u00a0the Internet when the World Wide Web became mainstream in the mid-1990s.\u00a0In some cases, existing laws were interpreted to apply to the online\u00a0world, such as the application of libel and slander to online statements, the application of intellectual property laws to file sharing over peer-to-peer networks, and the application of contract law to online terms of use. In others, new laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act were enacted to address shortcomings of the existing legal and regulatory landscape with respect to the online world. In some instances, the new technology led to a fundamental shift in\u00a0a particular area\u00a0of law, such as how privacy works in an online\u00a0world and how to address online identity theft and breaches of personal information. AR’s collection of data, and presentation of augmented data in real time, creates similar challenges that will need to be addressed. Here are some of the legal and privacy challenges raised by AR.<\/p>\n