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IGF 2023 WS #352 XR and the Next Generation of Tech Policy Challenges

    Subtheme

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Emerging Technologies
    Metaverse
    Virtual/Augmented Reality

    Organizer 1: Michael Karanicolas, 🔒UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy
    Organizer 2: Courtney Radsch, 🔒UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy
    Organizer 3: Chinmayi Arun, 🔒Information Society Project at Yale Law School

    Speaker 1: Jordan Fieulleteau, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
    Speaker 2: Agustina Del Campo, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
    Speaker 3: Brittan Heller, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
    Speaker 4: Owono Julie, Civil Society, African Group
    Speaker 5: Michael Karanicolas, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
    Speaker 6: Courtney Radsch, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
    Speaker 7: Chinmayi Arun, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

    Moderator

    Chinmayi Arun, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

    Online Moderator

    Courtney Radsch, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

    Rapporteur

    Michael Karanicolas, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

    Format

    Round Table - 60 Min

    Policy Question(s)

    1. What does content moderation mean in the context of XR’s more physical and visceral interface, and what does responsible behaviour for online platforms mean in this context?
    2. Along with security risks associated with any new technology, XR introduces a range of novel privacy issues, such as eye and movement tracking and biometric and sentiment analysis. What is the appropriate policy and regulatory response to these challenges?
    3. Are existing trademark, copyright and patent frameworks are appropriate in the context of XR, and if not how should they be reformed?

    What will participants gain from attending this session? The regulation of new technologies is typically a reactive enterprise, where policymakers scramble to keep up with the impacts of products that are already on the market. However, there is a window of opportunity to get ahead of these challenges for XR, and establish a policy strategy which will mitigate harms early, and support socially beneficial and equitable implementation. The purpose of this session is to generate cross-community dialogue on an emerging area of policy and regulatory controversy, and to forge interdisciplinary, multistakeholder, and trans-national networks in order to address pressing content and privacy related questions before this technology becomes widely adopted.

    Description:

    Extended reality is the next major frontier for internet governance debates. Although these technologies offer a host of potential use cases and benefits, they also raise a number of novel social and regulatory challenges, including related to harmful or manipulative content, privacy and cybersecurity. This session will bring together a mixed group of public policy professionals from civil society, academia, industry, and regulatory agencies to scope emerging content, privacy, intellectual property and governance challenges related to augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality systems, in order to chart avenues for progress and collaboration in finding best practices in this space.

    Expected Outcomes

    This session will complement an existing mapping project currently underway by the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, through its new Information Policy Lab, an experiential learning course which trains the next generation of public policy professionals in the skills needed to engage on questions of ethics and responsibility in the tech sector. The Policy Lab brings together multidisciplinary stakeholders to develop a comprehensive policy document outlining challenges, opportunities, and tradeoffs related to a new area of tech policy. XR is the theme for our Fall 2023 Policy Lab, whose outputs will feed into ITLP’s 2024 Symposium on XR. Discussions at IGF will inform both the Policy Lab and our eventual research product, as well as feeding into the symposium discussions.

    Hybrid Format: The sponsors have extensive experience in running hybrid events, and are committed to ensuring that there are equal opportunities for remote participation, including through the submission of both written comments and spoken interventions by the online audience, and the incorporation of online polling to measure the temperature of the room regarding particular speaker positions, and the need to elaborate further on particular questions. Because we intend for this session to be part of an ongoing policy development process, communication with participants should not be an issue, as we anticipate being in regular contact throughout the latter half of 2023. We intend to promote widely across the UCLA and Yale student bodies, along with our other partners, and view our students as a key locus for virtual participation.