The weird things hiding in the Oculus Rift Terms of Service

Posted on Monday, April 04 2016 @ 12:56 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
When most people come across a terms of service agreement they ignore it or scroll to the bottom to click it away because almost nobody wants to read these lengthy legal documents. Gizmodo on the other hand investigated the Terms of Service agreement of the Oculus Rift VR headset and came across a lot of shady stuff.

It includes the standard stuff like Oculus being able to terminate your service for myriad reasons and the waiver of your right to a juried trial, but also a lot more disturbing things like the fact that Oculus can freely use all work you created using the device, whenever it wants and for whatever purpose, and without requiring further permission.

Another worrisome part of the Terms of Service reveals Oculus can collect data from you while you're using the device. This includes data about your interaction with Oculus services and content, details about your PC and Internet connection, information about the games and content on your device, your location and even information about your physical movements and dimensions when you use the VR headset. Oculus can then use this data to send you promotional messages and content.
This is kind of creepy! Given that Oculus can collect information about how you move and how you’re shaped. The Facebook-owned company can use your location and log your activity, and it can even do so automatically.
Another aspect that raises concern is that just like Microsoft's Xbox One Kinect feature, the Oculus Rift is a device that's always on so this leads to further concerns about potential data collection.

Oculus Rift


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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