The metaverse promised through Big Tech’s hype and centuries of science fiction has yet to materialize. The masses haven’t embraced it, most people still aren’t conducting business meetings there, and there’s nothing out there even remotely close to the Ready Player One experience. A team of scientists in Italy, however, recently published research that could help humanity get there. 

Their paper, titled “Metaverse Human Digital Twin: Digital Identity, Biometrics, and Privacy in the Future Virtual Worlds,” describes how interoperability and data ownership will become key foundations for a digital analog of the real world.

Digital twins

Everything people do on the internet creates a trail of data that, when associated with their identity, paints a surprisingly clear picture of who they are as a person. In the years since the advent of the internet, this data has been used for everything from targeting advertisements to conducting emotional manipulation experiments.

In the metaverse, there are even more opportunities to capture data. Depending on the hardware and sensor capabilities, the data generated by metaverse users can include countless details about what, precisely, they’re spending their attention on and complex representations of their health and physical condition.

In a scenario where, for example, a hospital network has built a virtual world where patients can connect with caregivers to discuss concerns and schedule appointments, having the ability to pull up a patient’s vital signs on the fly via data gathered in the metaverse could be revolutionary.

In order to get the most out of their metaverse experiences, users will need a digital twin that both accurately represents them and ensures the data generated by it is private and secure.

Per the team’s paper:

“The boundary between the physical world and the digital one is becoming increasingly blurred. […] Access to the Metaverse should be secured through biometric authentication methods, while decentralized digital identity systems can ensure privacy is respected when exchanging data with service providers.”

Digital ownership

Eventually, if the metaverse continues to trend in the direction it is, more governments and large organizations will begin to develop and adopt standards of interoperability — similar to how thousands of third-party websites allow users to sign in with their Google or Meta accounts.

However, this approach also leaves people in the same position with the metaverse as they find themselves in with traditional social media. The data generated by users on social media platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, drives their primary revenue streams. Without people’s data, these companies couldn’t sell advertising space.

When it comes to the traditional internet, for the most part, the platform on which the data is generated has ownership of that data. Laws and regulations may differ by geography, but there’s no decentralized option for collecting all of a user’s data in a single repository where the user has complete access control.

In the metaverse, where this data could be exponentially more useful, the researchers argue that users should have control over their own data. This could potentially lead to a paradigm where metaverse denizens are incentivized to participate in experiences in order to generate data. This data could be held in decentralized storage, accessible only by the user, and parcelled out at the user’s discretion in return for compensation.

Related: Half of the 10 most valuable companies on Earth are making metaverse hardware