IEEE PerCom2024
Four Presentations at IEEE PerCom 2024, Including Main Conference (Short) and Workshops
Publications & Talks
International Conference · 2024
Privacy Awareness of Spatial Sharing System based on 3D Point Cloud: Insights from a User Survey
Abstract
With advancements in Metaverse and sensing technologies, there is growing anticipation for systems that connect distant spaces and facilitate immersive interactions. In particular, proposals for spatial sharing systems that scan real-world spaces and merge participants’ spaces in a virtual environment have been put forward. However, due to their detailed sensing of participants’ environments, such novel systems present unique privacy concerns, such as leaking personal tastes that differ from those in traditional phone calls or standard video conferences. This study aims to elucidate the specific privacy concerns arising from spatial sharing systems. Furthermore, we investigate whether processing the sensed spaces within spatial sharing systems can mitigate these privacy issues. A prototype of the spatial sharing system using LiDAR cameras with a mechanism for hiding objects of concern for privacy was developed and tested with 41 participants wearing VR goggles. A minimum of one response per family was obtained, totaling 16 responses. The survey results revealed the usefulness of the spatial sharing system and how privacy concerns vary according to gender, familiarity with information technology, and age. The findings of this study are valuable for designing privacy filters in various systems involving spatial sharing, such as interactions in the Metaverse.
Research Note
Advances in metaverse and sensing technologies have raised expectations for systems that connect distant spaces and support immersive interaction. Spatial sharing systems, which scan the real spaces of the participants and merge them within a virtual environment, are a leading example.
Because they sense participants' environments in detail, such systems raise privacy concerns that telephone calls and standard video conferences do not. In a video conference the user chooses what the camera shows, whereas spatial sharing transfers the room as it is, so information the participant never meant to convey, personal tastes among it, reaches the other side.
This study sets out to identify what those system-specific concerns are, and to test whether processing the sensed space can mitigate them. A prototype built around LiDAR cameras, incorporating a mechanism for hiding objects of privacy concern, was tested with 41 participants wearing VR goggles. Responses were gathered with at least one per family, totalling 16.
The survey showed that the spatial sharing system was regarded as useful, and that privacy concerns vary with gender, familiarity with information technology and age. These findings inform the design of privacy filters for systems that involve spatial sharing, including interaction in the metaverse.
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