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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

#871
post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

>I would love to hear the justification.

"We require you create an account so that we can protect your personal data."

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#872
post #299

"If you are an existing user and choose not to merge your accounts, you can continue using your Oculus account for two years." Phew

As someone noted above -- that 2 years is the statutory warranty period for the EU. They are setting that time limit so existing users can't call to return Oculus saying "I don't agree to these terms" because _they aren't terms yet_ for that user. But by the time they finally require you to log in with the account, it will be impossible to refund because you are outside the legal warranty period for both US and EU. I…

It's worth noting that the statutory warranty period in the UK is 5-6 years (depending on which country), not 2 years as is the minimum required by the EU.

So it might be interesting to see how this plays out here, although I'm not holding out a lot of hope for a positive result.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#873
post #859
post #753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing immoral about a lawful business transaction to purchase a VR company. If this device required some signing of an EULA that has given away all your consumer rights then the onus is on you, no one forced you to buy it and many organisations and individuals have been warning about these business practices unheeded. As an anecdotal example, many companies are now using instagram for image hosting that pe…

You bought a thing with a certain agreement then the agreement is changed under you . Will they reimburse the buyers? If not, then this is nuts and immoral. If they do reimburse you, then it's just scary. The fact an unscrupulous entity like Facebook have such a strong hold in people life and business, opinions and privacy is a recipe for an Orwellian future (present?) Virtual reality is the next frontier of cyberspa…

Did they change the EULA? Do we have the info to make that claim?

Even more interesting is I can remember having many a conversation about which headset to buy, always stating avoid oculus because facebook and yet the person buys oculus anyway only to later complain profusely about having a VR headset from facebook. In recent years this seems to be a problem, likely with current generations. Capitalism fails when you don’t exercise your freedom to make smart purchase decisions. If you don’t want facebook to have so much power stop buying them, stop using them, get your friends and family off and make them actually work for their customers.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#874

This seems to mean that Facebook's account review/policy process and lack of customer service - basically, that you're the product - now decides who can use Oculus. A week ago, I tried to sign up for Facebook in order to buy some ads[1]. With nothing remarkable about the account or metadata[2], the first page I saw after the signup form was > Your Account Has Been Disabled. You can't use Facebook because your account…

I had the same experience yesterday. Tried to setup a personal account to access a group and next time I logged in I got the same message about not following their "Community Standards". How is that possible? I didn't even do anything yet! Continued for them to review the ban but I had to stop on the very first step where they asked my phone number since I'll never give them such an information. Now the whole shit is stuck and I cannot even remove my account without giving them my number.

Isn't this just a phishing scam? This should be illegal.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#875
post #783

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video game consoles are not general computing devices. Their controlled and curated walled gardens are part of the consumer appeal, and the absence of those would make consoles no different than PCs. If consumers wanted that they'd be buying PCs only.

They can continue to use the PlayStation store, continue to have exclusive games, and need not see any difference except by choice. What is the downside?

The hardware prices increase due to the loss of license fee revenue.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#876

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm absolving Palmer of making a promise he couldn't keep because of Facebook. Palmer is correct here and shouldn't be getting the blowback that he is. Obviously Facebook can do what they want within the terms.

I don't know Palmer and until 5 minutes didn't know his name. I don't dislike him, I'm sure he's a nice guy and great person, and I think the product and achievement is impressive. But: I respect him for eating humble pie now. I absolutely do not respect yet alone absolve him of not doing so originally . Why would one? There's nothing NEW that came to the table: Facebook can do what they want now, and crucially that…

What are some examples of evil people that

> need to be doxxed or torched...

?

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#878
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? Well, yes. I don't know if you've noticed, but short-term convenience trumps all other concerns. The market can't really deal with these issues, because they are too subtle and expensive for individuals to work out for themselves. We really do need collective action, by way of regulation, similar to how we recognized as a society that workplace safety laws w…

>similar to how we recognized as a society that workplace safety laws were not something private businesses were ever going to compete on,

Democratic-ish societies get laws AFTER society is mostly in agreement on something. We got workplace safety laws because most workplaces had already started to care and the point of the laws were to force low margin industries and other hold-outs to get on board.

I mostly agree with the rest of your comment but your order of operations is simply backwards.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#879

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those who say they can’t be bought are either saints (rare), or have never had a reasonable chance of being offered their price. Most humans will get very morally flexible once offered enough resources; this is precisely why we have contracts and courts, to create structural systems more capable of upholding agreements than individual humans can do alone.

Or have never been in a situation where their mother, father, or themself has a serious medical condition requiring over $1,000,000 and many years of fighting to treat it. "I can't be bought" is a failure of imagination.

This is either never or very rarely the case in the developed world outside the US.

Re: Facebook account now required to login to Oculus devices

#880

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 las…

I work there. If "shadow profile" means a profile that's created from PII for a specific person that doesn't have an account on the site, fb doesn't create shadow profiles.

That you are that specific about P2 very clearly tells me that Facebook actually does create shadow profiles. I believe you that P2 isn't the basis of such profiles.
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