Virtual reality can take students on a journey through the distant cosmos or even the human digestive system. But during travel, VR devices can also collect more than a million specific personal data, from how a user’s pupils dilate to what makes them blush.
Virtual reality has been touted as a potential game changer for K-12 education. But already expensive VR headsets come at an added cost to student data privacy, according to an analysis by Common Sense Media, a research and advocacy organization that studies the role of technology in children’s lives.
The most popular devices on the market all have serious privacy issues, Common Sense found, leaving school districts looking to invest in virtual reality without a viable option.
“We cannot recommend any devices at this time for schools and districts that would not potentially violate state or federal privacy laws,” said Girard Kelly, chief privacy officer of Common Sense, who conducted the analysis. “School districts should probably wait a bit if they’re interested in purchasing VR for an Esports program or computer lab.”
Common Sense reviewed seven of the most popular VR devices, made by some of the biggest players in the tech world, including Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram; Microsoft; and Sony, which produces PlayStation. These devices account for nearly 100% of the virtual reality market, Kelly said.
VR headsets can collect so-called biometric data, including “really sensitive, really intimate data about your body posture, your gaze, what you’re looking at, your pupil dilation, what you’re not looking at, your gestures, what what you touch, what you interact with, what you say, even as precise as minute variations in skin color or redness.”
Girard Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer, Common Sense Media
Virtual reality has a lot of potential as a teaching, learning and engagement tool, Kelly said. Thanks to technology, students could soon experience learning in practical ways unimaginable for previous generations. They could take a field trip to ancient Greece, shrink to microscopic size and explore the interior of a cell, or find themselves in the middle of a production of a Shakespearean play, all without leaving the classroom.
But, at least for now, that can’t be done without potentially opening up valuable data to tech companies, Kelly said.
All Common Sense devices examined in a report, published on November 15, displays third-party advertisements. Privacy policies were often obscure or stated that user data could be used for advertising or tracking purposes.
Additionally, the headsets lack specific legal protections mandatory for students under 13, who are subject to stricter federal privacy standards. And more than half of the devices had no parental controls, and some had no security settings.
While privacy is a consideration when districts buy technology, data collected through VR devices is particularly sensitive because it can go far beyond your name, age and location, Kelly said.
VR headsets can collect so-called biometric data, including “really sensitive, really intimate data about your body posture, your gaze, what you’re looking at, your pupil dilation, what you’re not looking at, your gestures, what what you touch, what you interact with, what you say, even as specific as minute variations in skin color or redness,” Kelly said.
This type of information gives clues as to what makes users nervous, excited or bored, what resonates with them and what doesn’t resonate with them. And the amount of data that could be collected is not negligible: After spending 30 minutes or more in the virtual world, users generate millions of data points, Kelly said.
“What [we] doing in these rich, immersive environments betrays our deepest thoughts and feelings,” Kelly said. This means, ultimately, “what you do in VR could potentially be used to make you think positively about a brand or buy other products on other platforms.”
Additionally, some virtual reality applications, especially games, allow users to interact with strangers. “It opens up a lot of possibilities for inappropriate contact and exchange” that can be harmful to children, Kelly said.
“It definitely makes me pause”
The report’s message, Kelly said, is ultimately for the VR industry: “The industry needs to do better if we’re going to see these devices have beneficial uses.”
School district officials should “contact the [VR] suppliers, reach out to manufacturers,” and advocate for stronger data privacy protections, Kelly said.
That resonates with Kyra Walker, instructional technology coordinator for Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, Virginia. His district is interested in setting up a virtual reality lab at some point. For now, it has a limited number of headsets that are loaned to teachers who have obtained special permission to use specific programs, she said.
She is always excited about the learning potential of virtual reality. But she still worries that companies are taking data privacy as an afterthought.
Companies usually say, “we have this great product and they’re offering it,” Walker said. “And it’s only when consumers say, ‘wait a minute, what are you doing with my data? How do you collect this or sell this to someone?’
After reading the key points of the Common Sense report, Mary Teren, a high school science teacher in Cobb County, Georgia, has her doubts about virtual reality. She was hoping to get a grant to buy helmets.
“It definitely gives me pause,” she said. “I don’t know if I want this data released. Our primary job as educators is not just to educate but to protect our children. The fact that [VR] collecting millions of data points in half an hour blew my mind. Is the risk of student data being collected, sold and used worth the reward of the experience? »
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