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Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

oculus.com

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Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#681

Post by commoner »

donkey-hotei wrote: post #598
sneak wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, this is really a condemnation of any data privacy practices whatsoever claimed by any company, as they may at any point in the future sell the entire company and databases with it. The only privacy claims one may wish to take seriously are those that occur simultaneously with promises never to sell the company. I used to use a location tracking app called Moves, which was a neat 24/7 location tracking lifelog…

just a nit: Facebook does not collect "shadow profiles".

Facebook does collect shadow profiles, despite its denials.

https://theconversation.com/shadow-profiles-facebook-knows-a...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/anger-mounts-after-facebooks-s...

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/11/17225482/facebook-shadow-...

https://www.cnet.com/news/shadow-profiles-facebook-has-infor...

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/11/facebook-shadow-profiles-h...

The House Committee interview in the last link (TechCrunch) shows that Zuckerberg does not like to use the "shadow profiles" term, but it's what others use to refer to Facebook's tracking of non-users.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#682

Post by just-ok »

schrep wrote: post #653
jayd16 wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't correct. There were/are a lot of inside out VR headsets. Oculus just happens to have a brand, a solid marketing presence, a solid product, the appearance of longevity etc. Facebook might have helped but from a purely technical perspective, Facebook wasn't the only path.

What standalone 6DOF headset with 6DOF controllers existed in the market in 2019 besides the Quest? Or now? I certainly can’t think of one?

How about Pico’s line of devices?

https://www.pico-interactive.com/us/neo2.html

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#683

Post by cobbzilla »

R0b0t1 wrote: post #473
aspaceman wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still connected to the graph if you have another account accessed from the same IP. They know there's a connection from that account to yours. Don't create a burner account. Facebook's TOS is to lock burners and require an ID to unlock, so you'd be locking all your games out of access.

You can sue them. I think this is what it will take. I've got an orphaned GOG account that they are not responding to me about, and I am definitely entitled to access those games.

You sue; they restore access to moot the lawsuit, but then tie your real info listed on the suit to your account, no longer making it anonymous. Win-win? /sarc

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#684

Post by mysterydip »

glandium wrote: post #533
latenightcoding wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It baffles me too. My Samsung smart tv started showing me ads in the control panel/home screen. I paid full price for it, why am I seeing ads. I wish I could return it, but the snakes waited until the return period was over.

My Panasonic smart TV used to have an app for Hulu. It doesn't anymore. Same for a bunch of other apps. The app list is full of holes now.

One of the apps on my roku, which also is one of the "quick launch" buttons on the remote, was removed. Now I have a button on my remote that will forever be useless.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#685

Post by ryandrake »

avarun wrote: post #614
saxonww wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A better question: why does a VR headset require an account at all? Should my monitor require an account? Should my keyboard? It's a peripheral, not a platform.

Not sure if you know what device you're talking about. The Oculus Quest is very much a platform, not a "peripheral". There's no device that the Quest connects to to be used as a peripheral. It's a completely stand alone computing device that serves as a platform for third party software, the same as your phone which requires an account.

Nothing in the announcement limits this to the Quest. It says Oculus "devices" including peripherals. What is the justification for requiring an account to use a peripheral that you plug into your computer?

Even if it were just the Quest: How is it reasonable to require an account to use a "stand alone computing device"? I have many stand alone computing devices in my home without the need for an account with their manufacturers.

I was already skeptical of my Oculus Rift when after buying it I learned I needed to create an account just to download drivers (WTF!) No other device on my computer requires an account to obtain drivers. I would love to hear the justification.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#686

Post by just-ok »

fomine3 wrote: post #633
saxonww wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A better question: why does a VR headset require an account at all? Should my monitor require an account? Should my keyboard? It's a peripheral, not a platform.

I would call Oculus Rift as "just VR headset" but Oculus Quest would be reasonable to call as "standalone VR computer", not peripheral. Is requiring account for a "computer" reasonable is another question.

Well, both Linux and Windows let you have offline accounts (though the latter heavily discourages it, and I can’t speak for macOS), so there’s precedent in the desktop world for that functionality. Of course, why would Facebook bother to support it?

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#687

Post by Dylan16807 »

gambler wrote: post #270
nrp wrote: 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.

> This development was trivially predictable right when Facebook acquired Oculus. Which is why I bought Vive instead.

Did you just predict it happening "eventually"?

If you predicted it would happen before your headset was obsolete, I'd say you were wrong. And that's usually the important part for making a purchase. Six to seven years is enough lifetime for an early VR kit.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#688

Post by powersnail »

sam1r wrote: post #501
triceratops wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you stop smoking you'll feel better but it's not going to do anything to reduce smoking in the world overall. The only thing that can reduce smoking is the law: taxes, restrictions on where smoking is permitted, and so on. You should still stop smoking (for your own good) but that alone won't change the world.

That makes sense but the same argument could apply to voting....

I consider that to be part of the point of voting. If everyone's opinion on societal matter produces a statistically significant effect, there will be endless turmoil.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#689

Post by Dylan16807 »

SamBam wrote: post #656
valvar wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commercial displays are not more expensive because they don't have ads - that's an absurd suggestion. They are more expensive because they have higher requirements. They need to be running for at least 8 hours per day without issues, but often 24/7, as opposed to the usual 4-6. That's the main difference.

That might be true, but it's not an "absurd suggestion." Amazon will sell you a Kindle for nearly 20% cheaper if you let it show you ads.

In terms of actual dollars, those ads are worth about 20. The value isn't much different for a TV.

When many commercial displays are hundreds of dollars more, it's pretty absurd to suggest ads are a large factor.

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