元宇宙的法律规制

Legal Regulation of the Metaverse

元宇宙是通过虚拟现实或增强现实等数字技术形成的现实虚拟世界交融共生的数字生态系统。元宇宙放大并复杂化了现实世界的众多法律问题,如持续性非自愿的个人敏感信息综合采集所带来的隐私个人信息保护挑战、海量数据实时交互处理和加密网络技术的广泛应用冲击了数据安全保护体系、用户生成内容方式(UGC)对内容作品的确权和知识产权权益分配机制提出新挑战、跨平台一键登录和互操作的竞争反垄断等问题,以及缺乏统一可信的数字身份体系、数据资产确权利用规则不明晰、NFT金融安全风险突出等特殊问题。元宇宙法律规制应坚持现实世界法律框架都能直接映射适用于元宇宙的基本原则,建议修订完善现有个人信息保护、网络数据安全及知识产权规则,延展制定元宇宙隐私个人信息保护的特别条款、数据全生命周期安全可信规范和UGC新的知识产权授权规则等。推动出台数字身份国家战略,通过数字身份专门立法建立统一分层次的数字身份体系,制定数据资产新的确权利用法律规则,从国家层面建立起统一的NFT监管框架。

The metaverse is a digital ecosystem in which the real and virtual world blend and coexist through digital technologies such as virtual reality or augmented reality.A number of legal issues in the real world will likely be amplified and become more complicated in the metaverse.For example, protection of user privacy and personal information may be challenged as the metaverse involves comprehensive collection of personal sensitive information in a constant and involuntary manner.Data security systems could be greatly impacted by real-time interactive processing of massive data and the widespread application of encryption network technology.The model of user generated content(UGC)may pose new challenges to the right confirmation of content and the distribution mechanism of benefits with regard to intellectual property rights.Competition concerns may arise when users are free to login in with one account across all platforms with interoperability realized.Other unique issues concerning the metaverse include a lack of unified and credible system of digital identity, uncertainty in the rules governing right confirmation and use of data assets, and prominent financial risks associated with NFT.Therefore, to regulate the metaverse and address legal issues concerned, the following principles should be observed.Firstly, the existing legal framework in the real world can directly apply to the metaverse.Secondly, the existing rules with respect to protection of personal information and cybersecurity, data security, as well as intellectual property, may be subject to revision and improvement.Thirdly, new rules could be formulated, such as special provisions governing user privacy and protection of personal information in the metaverse, trusted norms on full-lifecycle data security, and new intellectual property authorization rules for the UGC.In conclusion, this article proposes to develop national strategies for digital identity, establish a unified and hierarchical system of digital identity by introducing specific legislation, formulate new legal rules for the right confirmation and use of data assets, and build a unified regulatory framework for NFT at the state level.