Virtual trespassing: privacy in photographic VR

This article introduces the concept of virtual trespassing , a novel privacy violation enabled by photographic virtual reality (VR). Photographic VR refers to VR experiences that allow users to inhabit real captured spaces through 360° photography or video. We argue that the privacy risks posed by access in photographic VR exceed those associated with analogous forms of access in traditional 2D photography like Google Street View. Our argument extends Helen Nissenbaum’s (2004) contextual integrity theory of privacy beyond informational privacy to include sensorial privacy. Contextual integrity can be violated not only through the inappropriate flow of one’s personal information, but also through inappropriate access to one’s sensorial personal space (Véliz, 2018). Photographic VR makes possible unique kinds of contextually inappropriate access to one’s sensorial personal space through its capacity to create a sense of presence, a feeling of “being there.” We draw on empirical research on presence in VR to support our argument before outlining different forms of virtual trespassing and identifying an inherent value-privacy tradeoff in photographic VR. Specifically, the same capabilities that make photographic VR valuable (presence, authenticity, and unrestricted access) also enable privacy violations. We conclude by suggesting practical privacy measures grounded in contextual integrity theory that can mitigate virtual trespassing while preserving the technology’s unique value proposition.