Oculus Rift VR headset’s software is sending your data back to Facebook servers
The world’s costliest VR headset may be spying on you. Exactly two years ago whenย Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2 billion, it was thought to be a matter of time before Oculus Rift became a part of larger Facebook advertorial market.
Now that the Oculus Rift headset is officially released to users, it seems that Facebook is indeed using the VR headset to further its advertising strategy. ย masses and laid bare for scrutiny, it appears those apprehensions may have a bit more credence. A Reddit user, Woofington found out that an โalways onโ background service in Oculus Rift software sends information from the virtual reality headset back to Facebookโs servers.
Woofington writes on a reddit thread that after installing the Oculus Home software on the device, a process with full system permissions called OVRServer_x64.exe detects when the device is turned on and sends data to Facebookโs servers.
Woofington found out that the process sent up to 7MB/s data from his device on one instance, even after shutting down Oculus Home.
If you thought that the Oculus Rift privacy policy would help you counter this spying, you are mistaken. In fact, the Oculus Rift privacy policy takesย users consent to its terms and conditions which states that it can use the users data for third party use.
The privacy policy clearly states that โdepending on how you access and useโ its services, Facebook may collect information about the games, content, apps, and other experiences a user interacts with; a userโs IP address and โcertain device identifiers that may be unique to your deviceโ; a deviceโs precise location based on GPS signal, Wi-Fi networks and cellular towers; and information about a userโs โphysical movements and dimensionsโ when the headset is used.
The privacy policy explicitly states that โthird parties may also collect information about you through the Services,โ according toย UploadVR.