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SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

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Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#421

Post by vkou »

jessaustin wrote: post #361
vkou wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's what a subpoena is. And it can be done in pretty much any legal system. If you're on trial for murder, and your alibi is 'I was at work', you're going to need your boss to come in to testify on your behalf. If he doesn't feel like it, the court will compel him to show up and testify, on his time, and on his expense, under penalty of prejury. This is a good thing.

If I was at work when the murder occurred, two or three discussions between police and my boss and coworkers would prevent a murder trial in the first place. Prosecutors don't like defendants with solid alibis. Probably FTC has already done equivalent investigation, which calls the subpoena described in TFA further into question.

My understanding is that these kinds of enforcement actions have a much lower success rate than criminal cases, because large firms with legal departments are rarely squarely in the wrong. They are usually treading a grey line, and evidence like this can push the case one way or another.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#422

Post by vineyardmike »

nonplus wrote: post #329
vineyardmike wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMO Meta is fundamentally built on data collection Isn’t their whole Metaverse thing a gamble to get away from that? Why does data collection prevent creating a good VR experience. If anything it should align goals well (spend as much time in VR as possible, so as much in VR as possible). Besides, most DataCollection companies offer CollectionFree enterprise contracts… which is where the money for this probably is.…

> Isn’t their whole Metaverse thing a gamble to get away from that? Many of us think Meta is trying to gain as much market as they can early, so they can leverage eye tracking and mm wave tech for very invasive biometric collection and ad targeting in the future. Reasonable minds can disagree on that.

Pretty sure Zuck has said outright that the goal is to own the economy of the metaverse… selling digital stuff and digital places with digital ads and (digital?) media.

It could be a gambit to track your eyes but that seems even harder with worse reward than taking a 30% cut as the next App Store.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#423

Post by vineyardmike »

taneq wrote: post #388
vineyardmike wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMO Meta is fundamentally built on data collection Isn’t their whole Metaverse thing a gamble to get away from that? Why does data collection prevent creating a good VR experience. If anything it should align goals well (spend as much time in VR as possible, so as much in VR as possible). Besides, most DataCollection companies offer CollectionFree enterprise contracts… which is where the money for this probably is.…

What? They’re doing VR because they think it’s the basis for the next general computing platform, and owning the platform gives you unlimited access to the user’s data. And in VR, that data includes the user’s gaze, height, physical fitness, high resolution 3D model of their gaming area, and other inferred or measured biometrics. As well as every virtual strip club, naughty video, and indiscreet personal message.

…and access to take a 30% cut when people buy and sell things. Which is probably more profitable and less liable to get legislated away.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#424

Post by jonas21 »

alain94040 wrote: post #399
jonas21 wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging by the responses in this thread, it seems like many folks on HN have never worked with an attorney before (which isn't too surprising). Do you have any advice on how to find a competent attorney with reasonable fees who can do the specific work that you need done? The one time I had to do this for my business on short notice, I used Yelp and Google, and it was somewhat disastrous. I think it would be really h…

I'll chime in to say that I was very happy with @grellas's firm in Silicon Valley. I found them the right mix of startup-friendly and competent in tech issues. (grellas.com).

Thank you!

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#425

Post by Waterluvian »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #263
dtech wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US legal system a non-government entity can force any 3rd party to spend time and money for their benefit? That seems pretty weird.

What legal system doesn't have this feature? Seriously where are you from that this isn't how it works?

In Canada there’s “witness expense assistance” to help cover costs of travel and such.

It doesn’t fully address the abridgement of freedom caused by one’s civic duty to testify, and I’m sure the U.S. at least has a similar concept.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#426

Post by CrazyPyroLinux »

ncallaway wrote: post #174
the_lonely_road wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These specific people are being compelled to do that or the company is being compelled to show up in person? Those are wildly different demands. I find it hard to believe that specific productive employees of the company are being compelled to show up in court rather just some hired legal representatives of the company.

Right, but hiring a legal representative is going to be very expensive for a small organization. It’s not just the few hours they’ll be testifying, or giving deposition. A reasonable corporate representative is going to need to do quite a bit of prep work and review of relevant materials. So, that’s both a legal cost, and a productivity cost for whoever is collecting those documents and briefing the corporate represe…

Honest question: Why not do what most of the ass-clowns do when they get in front of congress - "I don't know, Senator. I have no recollection, Congresswoman. I plead the 5th, You Honor. No, we don't spy on Americans." etc.? Seems like no one ever actually faces any penalties for this.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#427

Post by mrcartmeneses »

lexpar wrote: post #382
imdsm wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely if Meta need another company to help them prove something, Meta should have to compensate them. Sure, the government should be able to COMMAND a company to appear, but for one legal entity to COMMAND another legal entity to perform work and make an appearance at a place, in my mind as a Brit, seems entirely wrong. Time to throw my Quest on eBay, not sure I want to be a part of this.

I thought it was clear in the post that Meta is being compelled by the federal government to prove they are not a monopoly and as part of this they need to present a case where they establish they have legitimate competitors. This requires information about the competitors. The federal government is compelling action.

Yes and I’m compelled to rob a gas station because the government has compelled me to pay property taxes /s

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#428

Post by extheat »

mrcartmeneses wrote: post #427
lexpar wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was clear in the post that Meta is being compelled by the federal government to prove they are not a monopoly and as part of this they need to present a case where they establish they have legitimate competitors. This requires information about the competitors. The federal government is compelling action.

Yes and I’m compelled to rob a gas station because the government has compelled me to pay property taxes /s

This is typical for court cases. Even if a party may have little to do with what’s going on trial, if they’re a relevant party in any way they can get sucked in and be forced to give a deposition. It’s totally possible to “plead the 5th” here, but the rationale here is all the relevant facts to a case have to be brought to light in order to make an informed judgment.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#429

Post by statop »

onepointsixC wrote: post #129
georgewsinger wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We understand Meta sometimes future projects that their devices will have broad office applications, but we're skeptical it has any teeth. Consider that Atari tried to compete with office PCs in the early 80s with their 8-bit family, and failed: https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_596,c_limit,q_... It's hard to focus on multiple things at once, and we're skeptical that the bureaucratic forces in play at a l…

>It's hard to focus on multiple things at once, and we're skeptical that the bureaucratic forces in play at a large company like Meta will allow them to do a good job at making their gaming platform also one that people actually want to work in. The problem with your assertion is that you over count how many multiple things Meta has to do. What will make for a very good gaming VR Headset will also be a very good prof…

Yea… nothing I’ve seen from them is compelling.

My bet is Mark is going to burn a LOT of money, fail to get mass adoption, cancel the project, and lay the design team off.

But who knows! Maybe we’ll all be taking work meetings in MetaLife this time next year! Just make sure you login to your meeting 5 minutes early to preview the new season of BigBrother and score an extra 60 seconds of microphone mute time!

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#430

Post by statop »

benreesman wrote: post #133

Maybe I've just been on a too-long coding stretch, but speaking for myself, it's just really unsavory to read so much "red/blue"-style sloganism around the big tech companies. Obviously I'm biased because I worked for one, and so I saw up close the process that produces the decisions that seem to routinely generate comment threads with people comparing Google/FB/MSFT/etc. to e.g. "Satan". It's just not that simple fo…

But maybe, and hear me out here, FB deserves the shade.
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