Governments and technology companies are mapping much of the Earth with satellite imagery, drones and virtual reality to modernise land records or for virtual tours.
But in doing so, they may be putting indigenous communities or those living in informal settlements at greater risk of eviction, illegal logging and other threats, human rights campaigners and mappers say.
If there is a sacred forest or community land they want to keep from public view, or community borders that are sensitive - perhaps those should not be updated on the maps, he said.
Technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality , which use cameras, microphones and other sensors also inevitably collect data that can be misused, said Rory Mir, an organiser with digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
But there are many other ways to identify individuals, from their gait to their tattoos, said Mir, adding that there must always be an option to request removal of data.
Users should be in full control of how their private spaces are recorded, and how this data is used, Mir told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Monday.
Without meaningful user consent and restrictions on the collection, a menacing future may take shape where average people using VR and AR further proliferate surveillance in public and private spaces.
Original article