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Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

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Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#511
post #386

This is something that still completely baffles me about the "IoT"/"smart devices"/"connected devices"/"whatever you want to call it" space. If someone advertised a device as capable of doing X without it in fact being able to do X, they'd be liable for false advertising. If someone sold you a device, then took it back or destroyed it, they'd be liable for theft or destruction of property. Nevertheless, if someone se…

> Have we really given up basic consumer rights that easily?

Is there anything I can do as a mere consumer to lobby for my rights?

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you make a facebook account disconnected from a social graph (new email, or unused phone number) facebook shuts down the account. Their position is clear. They’re fucking creeps masquerading any user experience they create as anti-spam.

Is this confirmed? I made a second account at one point with a new email and have had zero issues with both. Although I rarely log into the first one, maybe once a month or so.

Facebook has banned multiple burner account of mine, so I suppose it is confirmed.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#514
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exhibit n + 1 on why when you're acquired you're not in a position to promise anything to anyone despite any assurances from the acquirer. Or, from the consumer's side, why those promises should carry no weight.

We see this time and again but ... you SOLD, you're not the captain anymore. If the new captain doesn't make the promise, you can't give it much weight, and if it is Facebook, probably no weight even if they did :(

One could theoretically put it in a contract, but I doubt anyone would risk the sale over this kind of detail.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#515
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the folks on this thread are commenting from the perspective of 2020, but Facebook had pretty significantly different reputation in 2014, especially around M&A. They had recently brought in both Instagram and WhatsApp without meddling in either their product stacks or their leadership teams. It's easy to claim now that this was all naive, but at the time it was plausible that these organizations and brands wo…

No. This development was trivially predictable right when Facebook acquired Oculus. Which is why I bought Vive instead. You don't need to be a genius to see stuff like this ahead of time. All you have to do is refuse to be gaslit and be honest about the high-level drivers of corporate decision-making.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also spent an extra $100 to buy a Vive instead of a Rift. I didn't predict this exact action but I didn't trust Facebook to keep their fingers off of it

$100 doesn't sound worth not having to use a facebook account to me. you can just make a bogus one with no info on it.

Can you? Don't you need a credit card attached?

Still possible but most people will not that far to hide information from facebook.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#518

A very brief history of Facebook's involvement with Oculus and how this has shaped up, just from quickly searching HN previous posts: - (2014) Facebook acquires Oculus: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7469115 , https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7469237 - (2016) Oculus's privacy policy sparks concern: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11410809 Oculus responds to privacy concerns about user tracking ( https:…

That's one side of the story, the Quest wouldn't exist without Facebook

Both can be true.

It can be true that Facebook heavily invested into the Quest and it can be true that their user-hostile moves over the past 6 years were all utterly predictable, even though company heads ran around telling their critics that they were being unreasonable and paranoid.

This is true for many tech products and industries.

Apple and Google have both invested huge amounts of money and resources into building voice assistants into general consumer services. They deserve credit for that. They also deserve criticism for stifling the markets around voice assistants, building walled gardens that hamper innovation in the space, and for general privacy violations along the way. And it is, once again, completely predictable what the end goals are for companies like Google in regards to voice assistants and augmented reality -- regardless of what their company spokespeople might be saying today.

It can be true that Chrome unambiguously moved the web forward as a platform, and that without Google's involvement the modern web would not have the potential that it has today. And it can simultaneously be true that Google's long-term corporate vision for the web is toxic, and that there are serious concerns to be had about Chrome continuing to maintain a dominant browser position.

The point is, I don't think acknowledging Facebook's investment in the Oculus means that it's good to ignore the obvious downsides of their involvement. I think it's good to look at what people were worried would happen, and to see that it did happen. That doesn't mean you need to disregard Facebook's investment, and it doesn't mean that Oculus shouldn't exist -- it's just giving you a broader perspective that sometimes these positive investments also come with serious tradeoffs that aren't always acknowledged up-front.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#519
post #386

This is something that still completely baffles me about the "IoT"/"smart devices"/"connected devices"/"whatever you want to call it" space. If someone advertised a device as capable of doing X without it in fact being able to do X, they'd be liable for false advertising. If someone sold you a device, then took it back or destroyed it, they'd be liable for theft or destruction of property. Nevertheless, if someone se…

> then completely alters the rules by which the device operates at an arbitrary point in time after the sell

You usually agree to a EULA that allows them to do that. If you cannot agree to the EULA then you return the product.

Now, I will give full credit that no one reads those, but Legality doesn't care if you fail to do due diligence.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#520
post #386

This is something that still completely baffles me about the "IoT"/"smart devices"/"connected devices"/"whatever you want to call it" space. If someone advertised a device as capable of doing X without it in fact being able to do X, they'd be liable for false advertising. If someone sold you a device, then took it back or destroyed it, they'd be liable for theft or destruction of property. Nevertheless, if someone se…

You need internet to download games to your oculus quest, so it makes sense to have an account to keep track of what games you own no? I still don't understand what people have against this change. You needed an oculus account prior to this, now it's a facebook account, what's the big deal?

> You need internet to download games to your oculus quest, so it makes sense to have an account to keep track of what games you own no?

Not really. If they're downloaded, why would you need to look up remotely what you have locally.

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