DAARC will apply the ‘Design Against Crime’ approach to Augmented Reality (AR) devices, systems and platforms, to identify new ways of anticipating and preventing either (a) the use of AR for criminal purposes or (b) the targeting of AR users by criminals, while simultaneously designing-in user privacy through Privacy-by-Design (PbD). AR offers criminals invisible, always-on, hands-free surveillance and support. It is vital to understand how AR could potentially facilitate:

• Fraud and financial crime– e.g. covert automated capture of PIN and swipe codes
• Industrial espionage and national security—g. smart covert surveillance
• Hate crime– e.g. virtual defacement of places of worship
• Sexual harms – e.g. altering others’ appearance (e.g. ‘nudification’)
• Terrorism– e.g. rehearsing armed assaults; or intimidating or further polarizing the public through metaversal messaging or astroturfing attached to places or buildings

This interdisciplinary project will bring together computer scientists and criminological social scientists to anticipate and map these threats, and explore potential design solutions that will help prevent such harms.