The Rey Juan Carlos University has returned to organize its technology fair, TechFest, with several presentations dedicated to virtual and augmented reality.
Throughout this week, it will be possible to follow at the Móstoles campus of the URJC, the conferences dedicated to technology TechFest 2017, both in person and through its streaming. On Tuesday the 17th, the Abanlex lawyers, Pablo Fernandez Burgueño and Pablo Corrales Sánchez, they brought us their presentation “Parliament! The Code of Virtual Reality“, during which they told us about some of the legal aspects that VR developers and users should be aware of.
In relation to the protection of personal data, Pablo Corrales told us about the amount of data that it is possible to collect through VR devices and the possibilities that arise in the future. Unlike other peripherals, such as a mouse or a monitor, in order to use a VR headset such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or PSVR, it is necessary for the user to register beforehand. From there, companies are starting to collect data in the most diverse ways, the user’s profile data and their devices, purchases within their stores, the messages they exchange between them, and even biometric data such as muscle response. About the latter, many of the prototypes that are currently emerging will allow companies to know much more about the user, such as their reactions to stimuli through receptors such as the Teslasuit.
With all this, Corrales’ presentation highlights the importance for studios and publishers to treat this data in accordance with data protection laws. All data that offers information about the health or personality of the subjects, must be treated in a special way, being encrypted and taking special care to control who accesses them; since the fines they would face can become quite high.
About intellectual property when developing content for virtual reality, Pablo Burgueño gave us a summary of the elements to take into account when using material created by third parties. Often, developers of VR applications or games develop their products based on previously published content, such as third-party software, objects taken from the real world using photogrammetry or, the most conflicting, images, music or videos from third parties. As all this content is protected by copyright, Burgueño reminds us of the need to have explicit and written permission for your use. As an example, Pablo tells us that everything that is on the public road permanently, can be reproduced, while if its exhibition is temporary, permission will have to be requested in the same way as it would be done for a photograph or song.
The TechFest will last until the 20th and, today at 16:00, it will have another presentation on augmented reality, “Hololens: Developing for Mixed Reality”, taught by Arcadio García. You can find all the information about the event here.
