October 14, 2022
Meta Quest Pro, Meta’s new virtual reality headset, is a sleek device with enhanced hardware, advanced features and cameras that point inwards to track users’ eyes and faces for targeted advertising.
The Quest Pro will not only tell Meta what users are interested in but also track their eyes and gives the company unprecedented insight into users’ emotions. This type of data can be used to determine how people feel, especially emotions like happiness or anxiety.
Meta, which has updated its privacy policies, including an “Eye Tracking Privacy Notice,” suggests that Meta will use eye-tracking data to personalize experiences and improve Meta Quest. Although the policy does not explicitly specify that the company will use the data for marketing, the personalization of the experience is standard privacy policy, which speaks for targeted advertising.
According to Nick Clegg, head of global affairs at Meta, eye-tracking data could be used to determine whether or not people engage with an advertisement.
Meta has already developed a large amount of technology for these purposes. In January, the company filed a patent for a system that “adapts media content” based on facial expressions and has been experimenting with the use and manipulation of people’s emotions for more than a decade.
Predictably, it has heightened public concern about Meta’s privacy.
The sources for this piece include an article in Gizmodo.
