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Meta faces new EU complaint over ‘pay for privacy’ consent

The new complaint, filed with the Austrian data protection authority, alleged that Meta is breaching EU law by framing a choice that makes it very difficult for users to withdraw consent to its tracking ads than to agree…reports Asian Lite News

Privacy rights advocacy group noyb on Thursday filed a new complaint against Meta, alleging that the social media platform unlawfully ignores the users’ right to easily withdraw consent and asks them to pay.

Since the beginning of November, Instagram and Facebook users who don’t want to be tracked have to pay a “privacy fee” of up to 251.88 euros per year.

The new complaint, filed with the Austrian data protection authority, alleged that Meta is breaching EU law by framing a choice that makes it very difficult for users to withdraw consent to its tracking ads than to agree.

While one (free) click is enough to consent to being tracked, users can only withdraw their consent by going through the complicated process of switching to a paid subscription.

“This is illegal, as the GDPR clearly states that withdrawing your consent must be ‘as easy as’ giving it,” noyb said in its complaint.

In the complaint, noyb said that the Austrian authority should order Meta to bring its processing operations in compliance with European data protection law and to provide users with an easy way to withdraw their consent — without having to pay a fee.

In addition, the privacy rights group suggested that the authorities should impose a fine to prevent further violations of the GDPR.

It has been six months since the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled that Meta’s handling of user data was illegal.

“Yet the social media giant has launched its third attempt to circumvent European privacy laws. Instead of asking users for their consent, Meta is now charging people for choosing a privacy-friendly setting,” the complaint said.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) mentions monetary costs as an example of a burden that is incompatible with the principle of Article 7 GDPR in its guidelines, making it clear that Meta is making the withdrawal of consent not nearly as easy as to give consent.

“The law is clear, withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it in the first place. It is painfully obvious that paying 251,88 euros per year to withdraw consent is not as easy as clicking an ‘Okay’ button to accept the tracking,” said Massimiliano Gelmi, data protection lawyer at noyb.

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Categories
-Top News Metaverse & WEB 3.0 Tech Lite

Meta to require advertisers to disclose ads created via AI

This may include image size adjusting, cropping an image, colour correction, or image sharpening, unless such changes are consequential or material to the claim, assertion, or issue raised in the ad…reports Asian Lite News

As side-effects of generative AI begin to haunt people, Meta has asked advertisers to disclose whenever a social issue, electoral, or political ad contains an image or video that have been digitally created or altered.

Advertisers will now have to disclose whenever political ads contain a photorealistic image or video, or realistic sounding audio, that was digitally created or altered to depict a real person as saying or doing something they did not say or do.

The policy will apply to ads that depict a realistic-looking person that does not exist or a realistic-looking event that did not happen, or alter footage of a real event that happened; or depict a realistic event that allegedly occurred, but that is not a true image, video, or audio recording of the event.

“Advertisers running these ads do not need to disclose when content is digitally created or altered in ways that are inconsequential or immaterial to the claim, assertion, or issue raised in the ad,” Meta said in a blog post late on Wednesday.

This may include image size adjusting, cropping an image, colour correction, or image sharpening, unless such changes are consequential or material to the claim, assertion, or issue raised in the ad.

The new policy will go into effect in the new year and will be required globally. Meta will add information on the ad when an advertiser discloses in the advertising flow that the content is digitally created or altered. This information will also appear in the Ad Library.

“If we determine that an advertiser doesn’t disclose as required, we will reject the ad and repeated failure to disclose may result in penalties against the advertiser. We will share additional details about the specific process advertisers will go through during the ad creation process,” said the company.

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Categories
Arab News Metaverse & WEB 3.0

IBF Net to expand its miniature Islamic economy into a metaverse

The new initiative is the first-of-its-kind application of metaverse technology to create a marketplace that ensures far higher levels of consumer and investor protection and is also compliant with the faith and belief systems of over one-fourth of the global population

After successfully building and launching several platforms to facilitate transactions in the philanthropic, non-profit, and for-profit sectors of the Islamic economy, IBF Net is poised to expand its miniature Islamic economy into a metaverse with two components — a metaverse for learning and another as a marketplace, to begin with. The new initiative is the first-of-its-kind application of metaverse technology to create a marketplace that ensures far higher levels of consumer and investor protection and is also compliant with the faith and belief systems of over one-fourth of the global population.

This is also one of the few Algorand-based metaverses currently under development that is fully backed and endorsed by the Algorand Foundation.

The idea of an Islamic metaverse was originally mooted in a blog post at IBF Net which later took the shape of the primary agenda for research by a Center of Excellence set up by the IBF Net. A liberal grant by the Algorand Foundation now facilitates the development of the metaverse, says Mohammed Imad, CFO.

The project involves the creation of a metaverse that gives due consideration to the uniqueness of the Southeast Asian region in terms of its faith, culture, regulatory, and policy environment. If we define metaverse as a three-dimensional virtual environment that would enable people to interact with each other, create assets, play games, work and collaborate with each other, then the factors outlined above would have a critical role in defining its shape in a given society. For instance, the Islamic faith is practiced by 1.8 billion people across the globe of which 240 million live in Southeast Asia alone. As such, the guiding principles of the faith, known as Shariah will have a perceptible influence on behavioral dimensions in the metaverse.

According to Mohammed Alim, CEO, IBF Net, “the project specifically has two clear disruptive goals: One, it aims to create an open and meta learning place for acquiring and sharing of knowledge anytime, anywhere; and two, it purports to create an open and meta market place for buying and selling with far higher levels of information and therefore, significantly higher consumer and investor protection. It will reconfigure and convert the present miniature Islamic economy developed by IBF Net, which is a centralized (closed) community-focused system to an open system with far superior features brought in by metaverse technology.”

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The success of the project would be measured in terms of the acceptance factor of our metaverse among the average followers of Islamic faith, given that the notion still evokes mixed reaction. It plans to demonstrate how metaverse technology is beneficial for the Muslim societies by choosing specific use cases that enhance the degree of Shariah compliance. At the same time, the solution will look beyond creating a meta-learning-place and a meta-marketplace that uses a paradigm based on blockchains and their atomic units of account becoming the means that value is ‘minted’ (created), stored, or transferred across other technologies as a form of wealth. Since digital wealth can be made programmable and represent an increasingly complex range of assets from in-game items and virtual land to loan agreements or other complex contracts, it will steadily move towards creating in aggregate an Islamic DeFi ecosystem.

On being asked what is unique and innovative about the initiative, Alim asserts that this is the only Shariah-compliant metaverse under development currently that expands the idea of a miniature Islamic economy into a metaverse. It demonstrates how metaverse technology can create better markets both in terms of informational and operational efficiency; and how metaverse technology can create more humane systems with far higher levels of investor and consumer protection.

Categories
Arab News Metaverse & WEB 3.0

Everdome now home to FAME MMA

Everdome, the most hyper-realistic metaverse, is now home to FAME MMA following the company’s acquisition of land within the metaverse…reports Asian Lite News

As Everdome’s partner, FAME MMA will have access to a cutting-edge environment that uses state-of-the-art photo-realistic graphics to leave users wondering about the boundaries between the metaverse and reality.

Set to launch in three phases throughout 2022, Everdome takes users on an immersive journey from Hatta in the UAE to colonize Mars. The platform leverages Metahero’s cutting-edge 3D scanning technology and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 to create a ground-breaking, ultra-immersive experience for all users.

As an Everdome partner and land owner within the metaverse, FAME MMA will have the opportunity to reach fans on an entirely new level. Leveraging Everdome’s expertise in building the metaverse, FAME MMA will elevate its engagement levels to take full advantage of the web3 experience.

FAME MMA is the biggest in Europe freak fight federation and a premier combat sports organization that hosts events for celebrities, personalities, top YouTubers, Instagram, Twitch & TikTok superstars and famous professional athletes to fight each other. Founded in 2018, FAME has run 13 large events, with the upcoming FAME MMA 14 event taking place on the 14th of May. The primary concept behind every event is to bring famous idols to an environment that you would not normally see on a daily basis, which is the octagon, to fight in front of thousands of fans in the venue and even more viewers watching the live stream available as Pay-per-view service.

Speaking about the partnership, Rob Gryn, CEO and Founder of Everdome and Metahero, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome FAME MMA into Everdome. The metaverse represents the future of consumer outreach and engagement. FAME MMA is one of the trailblazers taking early advantage of this immense and practically limitless platform.”

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Krzysztof Rozpara, Co-founder and CEO of FAME MMA said: “As a business we want to be ahead of the curve. Partnering with Everdome and acquiring a land within the metaverse will allow us to provide our community a deeper, more meaningful way to connect with our fight events, while creatively launching group-wide activities including virtual flight events, digital avatars, and digital wearables.

Built on Unreal Engine 5, Everdome will deliver a fully immersive web experience – pulling on the talents and vision of renowned concept artists, game creators, 3D designers, Hollywood VFX specialists, urban planning professionals, a development team that has been delivering graphics and effects for more than a decade, and a marketing team that has already found bounds of success in numerous industries.

Everdome’s Phase 1 includes the pre-launch phase, set in Hatta, during which users can explore the launch room and learn more about space exploration and the journey to come. Phases 2 and 3 continue the Everdome journey, from mission launch and life aboard the vessel, through to landing and settling on Mars.