PRIVIUM: A differentiated privacy-privilege model for user security and safety in the metaverse

The vision of the Metaverse enables exciting new application domains through immersive experiences. However, the immersive nature of the metaverse, enjoyed through anonymous avatars, also poses significant risks to the safety and security of individual users. Already, the early iterations of the metaverse have reported incidents around user safety and the subsequent inability of the platform to fix accountability. Metaverse adoption, without addressing genuine concerns around user safety, therefore seems far-fetched. This paper presents PRIVIUM (Privacy and Privilege Integrated User Model), a novel Differentiated Privacy-Privilege based framework, designed to address the privacy-privilege-accountability paradox within the Metaverse. The model establishes a tiered privilege structure, allowing users to actively select their desired level of anonymity in exchange for corresponding privileges, through a dynamic two-stage AI model pipeline. The proposed model is dynamic, amenable to diverse use-case scenarios for the average user within the metaverse, while delicately balancing the trade-off between the user’s need for complete privacy and the platform’s responsibility to ensure safety and enforce accountability. This approach empowers users with granular control over their privacy to meet their navigation and application-specific consumption needs within the metaverse while allowing the platform to ensure safe experiences within the metaverse. Simulation results are presented, demonstrating feasibility, potential challenges in implementing PRIVIUM in the real-world discussed, and future evolution imagined.