In this insight, we look at where Virtual Reality (VR) is now, plus what predictions there are for its future.

Potted History 

Virtual Reality (VR) is a simulated and fully immersive experience that obscures the natural world, which is used for entertainment, education and business. The very first VR headset / head-mounted display (HMD) dates back to 1960, and General Electric produced the first computerised flight simulator in 1972. In the more modern Web era, 2014 saw Facebook buying Oculus technology for its VR technology, and the launch of Google Cardboard, PSVR and the Samsung Gear VR. Things started to take off for VR from 2016/17 onwards and, the (augmented/virtual reality) AR/VR headset market was reported to have grown by 92.1 per cent year-on-year in 2021 compared to 2020, with half of the sales in the 4th quarter of 2021. This made 2021 the first year since 2016 where this level of growth was experienced.

The prediction is that the global market size of AR and VR is forecast to smash the $30.7 billion market size of 2021 and rise to $296.9 billion by 2024 (Statista, 2021).

Examples of VR Use 

Some examples of the current and developing use of VR include:

– Entertainment, such as VR headsets being used for gaming and virtual sports, games, and competitions.

– Saving money for car manufacturers, e.g. BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, by allowing engineers to experiment with the look and build of a vehicle before commissioning expensive prototypes.

– Healthcare professionals using VR to prepare and train for operations.

– VR shopping experiences, e.g. The Metaverse Fashion Week (hosted by Decentraland on 24 March) where visitors could virtually experience fashion shows from global brands, attend virtual live music sessions at branded after parties, as well as buying and wearing digital clothing directly from catwalk avatars. Some see the future as using body-scanning technology and trying-on clothes in the virtual world to see what they’d look like before buying.

– Estate agents offering 3D VR property viewings, and architects and interior designers using 3D models of buildings/houses which can be viewed and experienced by customers wearing 3D headsets.

– Platforms like Glue, Arthur and Meeting Room enabling VR events, conferences and meetings.

– Law enforcement agencies using VR to train police in handling different situations played-out through simulated interactions with people.

– VR is also being used in online gambling environments, attractions (visiting museums and galleries virtually), fitness (VR fitness apps and headsets), education, and more.

Meta / Metaverse 

VR is already used for social activities such as exploring and creating immersive content for each other in the ‘metaverse’/VR space, e.g. Meta’s Horizon Worlds,  AltspaceVR and Horizon Worlds.

In November 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the news by announcing that Facebook was grouping its apps and technologies under the new company brand name of ‘Meta’ and that users would soon be able to experience a new, immersive VR metaverse. This had already begun with Horizon Worlds (launched via invite-only in beta in 2020) which is a free, virtual space app that has been built with the Horizon creation tools. Users (over 18 and in the US and Canada) can create their own avatar, explore, work with others, and build and play their own games and activities as well as playing Meta’s base game. The user’s legless, floating avatar can fly around the virtual world and assemble a custom digital environment from building blocks and use pre-made code snippet scripts to set the rules for the games they create.

Challenges

Although VR seems to have really started taking off in 2021, with huge growth predictions for the future, some of the challenges include:

– The relatively high cost of the hardware, software, and development.

– The need for education and training, e.g. for business use of VR.

– Dealing with possible new legal and acceptable behaviour issues with VR.

– Possible health and insurance implications of using VR, such as injuries (e.g. people walking into things whilst wearing a headset), motion sickness, accidents, and damage to property. For example, in February, Insurer Aviva revealed figures showing that accidental damage caused by VR headset-wearing gamers caused a 31 per cent jump in home contents claims in 2021.

– Ethical issues, e.g. VR immersion can be isolating, and could lead to problems readjusting to the real world.

– The need to make VR experiences better and even more immersive. For example, a team at Carnegie Mellon University have added ultrasound waves to a VR headset to give users a sensation in their mouths.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The leisure and fitness use of VR received a big boost over the pandemic with people looking for entertainment and novel ways of exercising while at home. VR, however, has been proving its worth for businesses for several years now, e.g. in the automotive industry, architecture and design, virtual tours and virtual meetings. For many businesses, VR solutions that are targeted to fix a specific business problem and are affordable and don’t require too much training to use them would make them more attractive. Predictions for the growth of VR and AR are very promising, and although there are challenges, this is very much a growth area that is still in its early stages. Facebook/Meta’s announcing its ‘metaverse’ has also gone some way to bringing the idea of VR and immersive digital experiences and their possibilities into the wider public consciousness. VR experiences and business tools are, therefore, likely to be ways to boost business strengths and develop opportunities going forward.

With so many of us depending on our smartphones for many aspects of our business and personal life, and with electricity prices rising, here are some ways to reduce battery consumption and save electricity:

– Use Dark Mode (for OLED screens).

– Stick with 4G rather than 5G.

– Reduce your screen refresh rate (via Settings).

– Opt for static rather than live/moving wallpapers.

– Avoid using always-on display.

– Don’t overcharge the phone i.e., unplug it as soon as it reaches 100 per cent.

In this article, we look at the legal issues around recording calls on your mobile, and the different methods for doing so.

Is It Legal To Record Phone Calls On Your Mobile? 

In the UK, as an individual mobile phone user, generally speaking, secretly recording a conversation is not a criminal offence and is not prohibited if that recording is just for personal use, and the consent of the person you’re recording is not needed. There may, however, be a question about whether it’s if ethical, depending on the circumstances.

There are certain situations where the legality of recording a call on your mobile may be questioned. For example:

– If the recording is then sold to a third-party or made public without the consent of the participant(s).

– If there’s a claim for damages involved.

– If, as in the case of journalists (for example), consent hasn’t been obtained or the recording is not judged to be in the public interest.

There may, of course, be other possible sets of circumstances where recording a call on a mobile could contravene laws but these would need to be checked with a qualified legal professional.

What About Businesses? 

For businesses, however, there are more rules laws to comply with as regards the recording of phone calls. These can include a potentially complex mix of the following:

– Under the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000, there are some situations where recording a phone call is legal. For example, these include for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime, in the interests of national security, or to ascertain whether standards are being achieved by persons using the system in the course of their duties. The full set of circumstances can be found here on the government’s website.

– Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) individuals can tape conversations if the recording is for their own use.

– Businesses that store personal information (such as recorded phone calls) must be registered with the Data Protection Commissioner.

– If a business records a call with an employee without their consent, this could be breach of their privacy under the Human Rights Act 1998.

– Under GDPR, there are several aspects to comply with when recording calls. For example, consent needs to be acquired, and businesses must explain why they’re recording calls. Participants may give their consent to calls being recorded, for example for a specific stated purpose, to fulfil a legal obligation, to defend the interests of participants, or in the best interest of the public. Also, how the data (phone call recording) is processed, stored, and shared is matter for data protection GDPR. For instance, call recordings must be securely stored and managed, and only retained for the length of time required to fulfil the purpose of the recording. The recordings held by a business must be relevant to that business and only held by that business.

How To Record Calls On Your Mobile 

There are several different ways to record calls on a mobile. These include:

– On Android, using Google Voice app or, until recently, other third-party Android apps such as Truecaller app. Due to the vulnerability to misuse of the Accessibility API, an update to the Google Play Store developer policy means that third-party call recording apps must now stop offering their services.

– On an iPhone, to record a phone call (on a speakerphone), use the Voice Memos app.

– In an iPhone, use an iPhone recorder app that allows 3-way conference calls (a 3-Way Call Merge App), e.g. Rev, TapeACall Pro, or Call Recorder Pro.

– Gain consent from the caller, put the caller on speaker, and record them with an external device.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Although it sounds like a straightforward subject, and apps exist to enable recordings, for businesses, recording calls on mobiles is covered by several laws. These relate to data protection and human rights. Although there are situations where recording calls would be acceptable, e.g. detecting crime or monitoring standards, businesses need to be clear about what recordings are for, should gain consent, and store the call data in a way that is compliant with GDPR and ensure that storage is set up to allow deletion if requested. For businesses, recording calls on mobiles may be helpful, but possibly legally complex, depending on the circumstances. If in any doubt, businesses would be advised to check with legally qualified professionals.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article should in no way be used or accepted as legal advice or legally accurate. The information contained here has been researched and compiled in good faith; however, the writers are not legally qualified or legal experts and information included here to create an interesting article that is correct to the best of our knowledge. 

In this article, we look at the immediate challenges ahead for Twitter with Elon Musk now at the helm, plus we look at some of the likely ways that he could start adding more revenue.

What Happened? 

Billionaire Elon Musk recently became Twitter’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9.2 per cent stake in the social media company. Twitter then invited Musk to join its Board. Musk, however, announced that he would not be joining Twitter’s Board. Instead, Musk launched a hostile takeover bid, offering to make Twitter Inc private in an unsolicited deal valued at $43 billion. Musk offered to pay $54.20 per share in cash, 38 per cent above the price in the hope of winning-over shareholders. Twitter looked set to resist by adopting a ‘poison pill’ strategy (where the target company dilutes an acquirer’s voting shares). After threatening to cut Board members’ salaries to $0 if he was able to acquire the company, on April 25 Twitter’s Board accepted an offer from Musk to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Musk now intends to take the company into private ownership and has indicated that he plans to make many changes, which is one of the reasons why Musk buying Twitter was met with a mixed response as those within the company feared cultural change and job losses.

On successfully buying Twitter, Musk said that “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

Musk also commented “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”  Concern has been expressed by many about what too much ‘free speech’ could mean for the company.

However, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey thanked Musk and current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for “getting the company out of an impossible situation” and said that taking the company back from Wall Street (public ownership) and the ad model (mostly funded by advertising) was a good move.

Challenges 

Although Musk is optimistic about Twitter’s future, many are wondering how he can add more revenue. To achieve this, Musk’s Twitter must tackle many other challenges. These include:

– Musk’s view that Twitter has done too much to control its platform, and that there needs to be more free speech could make advertisers nervous. Twitter currently relies upon advertising for 90 per cent of its revenues. If more free speech means less restrictive moderation and potentially toxic content, advertisers may fear that their brands may be tarnished by association and stop ad spends with Twitter.

– Some brand managers have criticised Twitter as becoming a less engaging and interesting platform over the last year where a high expectation customer-service perception can easily lead to complaints and trolling.

– Even though Twitter has a daily user base of 229 million people, the company hasn’t generated significant profits in nearly nine years as a public company and share values have lagged behind those of rivals.

– Ongoing, stiff competition from other social media platforms (e.g. TikTok) and their visions for the future, e.g. Meta providing new potential advertising ideas for companies.

– The unusual nature of the deal to buy Twitter, i.e. more cash than the typical buyout and more debt than Twitter may be able to cope with. This, combined with the underwhelming profits, and the dangers of free speech and its deterrent effect on advertisers could threaten the company’s ability to pay off the high debt and interest payments.

– No other current meaningful source of revenue other than advertising, meaning that the company may have to continue with its current model for longer. No real revenue source changes coupled with nervous advertisers could create huge risk.

– Fears for Tesla. For example, some people have expressed concern that Musk’s Twitter deal and the work needed to make changes and create more revenue could take his attention away from Tesla. Also, Musk selling Tesla shares and putting them up as collateral for personal loans to raise cash means that Tesla’s value may now be linked to Twitter’s. This could mean that any problems with Twitter, e.g. caused by the wrong kind of “free speech” or trouble paying back debt could mean Musk drawing even more on Tesla stock, thereby creating more risk for Tesla.

Adding Revenue To Twitter

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. It’s worth remembering some of the things that the deal has going for it. For example:

– An established global platform with huge user numbers and influence.

– Elon Musk’s track record at launching successful companies (PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX), and his positive personal brand values, e.g. adding some excitement and interest and a focus on innovative ideas and the future.

– A better than expected number of monetisable daily active users / mDAU figure (despite the error), good projected growth figures, and a recent jump in net income (due to $1bn coming from the sale of Twitter’s mobile advertising unit MoPub to AppLovin).

With this in mind (plus Musk’s dislike for traditional advertising models) and his intention to make changes, there are several ways that Twitter’s revenue could be improved. These include:

– The enhanced product features, open-source algorithms, spam-beating and authentication changes building trust among advertisers (and attracting new ones) while creating new revenue opportunities.

– Crypto advertisers, knowing about Musk’s liking for cryptocurrencies, buying more advertising with Twitter.

– A focus on subscription concepts like Blue. This subscription service, launched in June 2021 in Australia and Canada (Twitter’s first subscription service), offering a set of special features and perks to subscribers. Musk’s Tweets have also signalled a possible offering of the Twitter verified blue checkmark, and ad-free interface and additional edit capabilities bundled with the Blue subscription fee.

– New types of experiential and immersive advertising which command higher rates from advertisers (again, remembering Musk’s dislike of traditional advertising).

– Changes to executive pay and layoffs, thereby decreasing costs.

– New ways of monetising Tweets. For example, charging companies fees for embedding or quote-tweeting verified users.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Although Elon Musk has succeeded in buying Twitter, there are many challenges and risks to overcome to start producing more revenue and relying less on traditional advertising. In the meantime, Musk needs to keep advertisers on-board and convince them that Twitter will be the home of the right kind of ‘free speech,’ keep Twitter competitive, and start rolling out some fresh ideas, fast. In essence, it’s going to be a case of innovating, segmentation (for subscription-based services like ‘Blue’), adding value, and augmenting Twitter’s product in a way that prolongs its product life cycle. If a shake-up and some new vision is needed, Elon Musk may certainly be capable of providing that, and the hope is that advertisers like Musk’s ideas (as the ex-CEO of Twitter does) and the kind of direction that he thinks Twitter should go in. For Twitter employees and Board members, it looks like being a time of uncertainty and possible bad news employment-wise, although competitors may see Twitter having the world’s richest man with plenty of big business success behind him, a strong personal brand, and a sometimes-unpredictable style as a threat. Twitter’s advertisers will be watching closely for any possible negative ‘free speech’ that could rub-off on their brand and may be preparing possible alternative advertising strategies. Some business advertisers may welcome Musk and new advertising opportunities. With Tesla’s fate now tied-in with that of Twitter, the near future is likely to be worrying. However, as always with Elon Musk, his many different tweets and comments mean that it is hard to say exactly what happens next, and even though the challenge is substantial, it probably wouldn’t be prudent to bet against him succeeding.

Google has announced that it is changing its policies to allow more types of personally identifiable information removal requests.

Personal Information Showing Up In Google Search 

Google acknowledges that personally identifiable information of some users can and does show up in Google search queries. This can make users concerned, e.g. about how it could be used against them in harmful ways such as scams, hacking and fraud, unwanted direct contact, or even physical harm. This is why Google’s users can submit a request to Google that certain personally identifiable information is removed from Search.

Removal Requests Limited To Certain Situations Before 

Although, for many years, users have been able to request the removal of certain sensitive, personally identifiable information from Google’s Search, it has only been allowed in certain cases, e.g. doxxing or where information like bank account or credit card numbers are visible that could be used for financial fraud.

New Policy Expansion 

This new policy expansion by Google means that users can now request the removal of additional types of information when they find it in Search results. For example, users can now request the removal of personal contact information like a phone number, email address, or physical address. The policy also allows for the removal of additional information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials when it appears in Search results.

Why The Change? 

Google says that this change in policy is in response to the fact that the internet is always evolving and with information popping up in unexpected places and being used in new ways, its policies and protections now need to evolve too.

The policy change may also reflect the fact that GDPR, which is now well established, gives users the ‘right to be forgotten’, the UK’s Online Safety Bill is on the way to becoming law, and the tech industry in the U.S. has also come under increased regulatory scrutiny. For example, following a hearing by the US Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security last October about kids and online safety, Google started allowing people under 18 or their parents request to the deletion of their photos from search results. Google also now allows requests from users for the removal from Google Search of non-consensual explicit or intimate personal images and involuntary fake pornography.

The new policy changes will, therefore, bring Google further in line with these new laws designed to protect users and their privacy, and help it to avoid more regulatory scrutiny.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

An increased amount of scrutiny, the tightening of existing policy and the introduction of new regulations around privacy (and particularly the protection of children online) appear to be the drivers of Google’s new policy changes. Businesses and organisations in the UK, for example, have had a legal responsibility for many years under GDPR (now UK GDPR) to give people the ‘right to be forgotten’. It may, therefore, seem only fair that Google, which has the power to cause great upset and harm (through what’s displayed in its search engine results) is now making it easier for people to request that certain information and images which could be used against them be removed. Many users may have found it frustrating in the past to have to make requests that may not have been granted, with Google having the final say over certain information or images that a UK company would have been legally obliged to quickly remove. It is, of course, good news also that these recent policy changes could offer children and young people more protection. There is still, however, some way to go with more effort and investment and changes needed from the social media companies to make the Internet a much safer place for all.

With many governments (including the UK Government) being targeted with Pegasus phone-spying software, there’s now news that Spain’s PM’s has also been hit.

What Is Pegasus? 

Pegasus spyware is sold by Israeli-based NSO Group to governments to carry out surveillance by infecting phones with surveillance software. The software is sold to nation states, for millions of (US) dollars as a complete surveillance toolkit.

What Can It Do? 

Pegasus can extract the contents of a phone, give the operator access to any texts, photographs, the camera, and the microphone. This gives the Pegasus operator the ability to conduct real-time surveillance and extract sensitive data. Pegasus is typically used by law enforcement for tracking criminals, or for authoritarians / governments listening-in on people of interest such as journalists and activists as a way of quashing dissent.

What Happened In Spain? 

Spain’s minister for the presidency, Félix Bolaños, recently announced at a press conference that the mobile phones of both Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez, and defence minister Margarita Robles had been infected by Pegasus in May and June 2021.

Data Extracted 

It was announced that the phones belonging to Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez phone had been infected twice, resulting in a large amount of data being extracted.

Who Was Responsible? 

No country has been specifically identified but, based on that claim that the data extraction couldn’t be traced to any Spanish state agency, the perpetrators have been described as an “external” force.

Previous Infections – Catalan’s Politicians & More 

Earlier this month, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab revealed that at least 65 Catalan politicians and activists had been targeted by Pegasus and Candiru spyware. These included the president of the Catalan government, Pere Aragonès, European Parliament members, Catalan legislators, jurists, activists, and some of their family members. It has been reported that suspicion over these hacks have been focused on the Spanish government in Madrid given its opposition to and the crushing of Catalonia’s attempt at independence.

Inquiry To Meet 

Following the spyware attack and the potentially serious consequences, the European Parliament’s Pegasus inquiry will meet this week in Strasbourg to find a way to stop spyware being used in Europe.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Many countries are reported to be using Pegasus and similar solutions, mostly as a constructive way to fight crime and get the heads-up on any possible national security threats. It was perhaps not a surprise that the finger was pointed at Madrid over the use of spyware on Catalan politicians but the discoveries of spying on the heart of the UK and Spain’s government has caused real concern. Although European governments probably recognise the importance of their own use of perhaps Pegasus or similar, these recent incidents could galvanize efforts in the EU to provide better protection and find a way to stop spyware being used across Europe. Ways to avoid phone infection by Pegasus includes rebooting the device daily (to clean it), disabling iMessage and Facetime (exploitation vectors), keeping the device up to date with the latest patches, and never clicking on unsolicited links in SMS or email messages.