Visceral Interfaces for Privacy Awareness of Eye Tracking in VR

Eye tracking is increasingly being integrated into virtual reality (VR) devices to support a wide range of applications. It is used as a method of interaction, to support performance optimizations, and to create adaptive trainingor narrative experiences. However, providing access to eye-tracking data also introduces the ability to monitor user activity, detect and classify a user’s biometric identity, or otherwise reveal sensitive information such as medical conditions. As this technology continues to evolve, users should be made aware of the amount of information they are sharing about themselves to developers and how it can be used. While traditional terms of service may relay this type of information, previous work indicates they are not accessibly conveying privacy-related information to users. Considering this problem, we suggest the application of visceral interfaces that are designed to inform users about eye-tracking data within the VR experience. To this end, we designed and conducted a user study on three visceral interfaces to educate users about their eye-tracking data. Our results suggest that while certain visualizations can be distracting, participants ultimately found them informative and supported the development and availability of such interfaces even if they are not enabled by default or always enabled. Our research contributes to developing informative interfaces specific to eye tracking that promote transparency and privacy awareness in data collection for VR.