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Comment by codezero | Hacker News Reader

I'm sure this just changes which pipe usage data goes down, but this means Facebook directly gets to use your VR usage/purchases to market to you, and they will follow you around the web, because they know. I think that's the main reason folks generally dislike FB connect in the first place, but I don't want to speak for everyone :)

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How is that different from an Oculus account, though? FB could keep the accounts separate but still funnel data in from Oculus to FB (as I'm sure they'd already been doing). If you create a throwaway FB account just for your Oculus device, the only material difference is which DB the entry is in.

when you sign up to facebook i bet their ToS is much different than Oculus'

That's my point around changing the pipes. I think it's still meaningfully different though, because there are probably some first party benefits of going directly through FB, but that's speculation.

> this means Facebook directly gets to use your VR usage/purchases to market to you, and they will follow you around the web

Only if you use or log into your bogus FB account.

Having your IP address is identifiable enough (combined with all the other joys of big data) to Facebook and its marketing wing, so don't feel too confident, but if you don't care, then that's kind of the point.

I mean at this point... seeing ads on VR instead of toothpaste might be a win

Wondering if creating burning accounts for everything would prevent any tracking. Basically

- create burner gmail

- create burner oculus name/account

- create burner Facebook account

- always use a VPN

It seems like you could completely remain anonymous and provide Facebook with data they could never correlate to a real person.

What do VPN help if you have Facebook firmware on your computer? You also need to never play with friends with the Rift online, or let them borrow your Wifi, etc. If you have Facebook apps or hardware you leak fingerprinting bits. The Rift has bluetooth for the controllers right? Better put it in a Farradays cage because your neighbors will rat on you to Zuckerberg.

There is no having a tiny bit of Facebook. If you give them a finger ...

Did you try to make a burner Facebook account? I tried doing this since my client needed something to be verified through FB and I don't have an account.

After initial login I was asked to verify myself by either providing ID (sic!) or a phone number.

Well, seems that after 2023 I'll just trash my Quest.

Whoa really? I deleted my Facebook in 2014, so I had no idea they actually did ID verification. If this is the case I guess you could spin up a burner number on Twilio, but this seems like a lot of work to go through. I have a Quest and will likely try these steps, but no way will I ever give Facebook my real identity.

Yep, I’ve had exactly the same thing happen to me. You might be able to delay it slightly if you use an email address they have in their records from other users (i.e. an email address some of your friends have stored for you in their contacts they’ve shared with Facebook). Set up a new gmail / Hotmail account they have no trace of existing before, the red flags go up and it will almost certainly get you to verify with some form of government ID, real phone number or possibly both.

I’ve supported Oculus since DK1 through every single iteration of hardware. This change by Facebook has just killed the brand entirely for me. I simply won’t sign up / back into Facebook (killed my account around 2011 as I found it overwhelmingly toxic and have never looked back) to use a piece of hardware I already purchased.

I had reason to try to create an FB burner account not so long ago, but I couldn't get through into any worthwhile practical use without providing photo ID, despite giving them actual pristine phone numbers on every try. My guess is they force it upon every identity where they don't already have linkability from phone books they've snooped through, and the like.

If you're logged into the account on your computer, sure. Just make sure you either make all purchase on-device, or log into Oculus in a private window.

Facebook tracks you even when you're logged out btw.

You'll need a separate ip address for each device then correct?

Not sure, does facebook just assume that everyone connecting from behind a NAT is the same person?

That seems like it could go poorly, like if one person in a household had been buying a secret birthday present or an engagement ring or researching divorce lawyers and then the targeted ads were associated to everyone in the house.

The definitely assume it's the same person. I get advertising clearly targeted at other people on my internet connection (eg. ads for property in a certain suburb, when I don't even actively look at property while another family member does).

There's much more than IP adress that's used to track you. Companies like facebook use all the forms of browser storage, browser fingerprinting, etc.

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