There’s growing interest in a set of technologies that allow individuals to immerse themselves, and engage socially, in a digital world. The resulting “metaverse” presents novel opportunities for harm as well as for good. In particular, the way we engage with others in the metaverse could leave us open to new interpretations of existing harms (e.g., identity theft, phishing scams, romance fraud) and may introduce novel (and previously unanticipated) harms. One specific concern is the preservation of human rights in the metaverse, including our identity and protection against discrimination/harm on the basis of that identity/identity expression. This project aims to develop understanding of future harms and rights in the metaverse. We use a novel combination of methods to explore three distinct areas:

• What is the role of identity presentation in the trust we place in others?
• How have fiction authors imagined harms taking place in metaverse-like future worlds and technologies?
• To what extent could current laws be used to protect us from harms and human rights infringements in the metaverse?

Our team draws on expertise from computer science, psychology and law, and combines controlled experimentation with an analysis of speculative fiction (sci-fi) and of current laws and legal theory.

Presentation on the TRIM project from the SPRITE+ Conference, June 2023.