Do I need a Steam or Facebook account to use VR?
- Thread starter Koen
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Why do people draw these redlines? Even if you needed a FB account to run the Rift (which you don't) it would be well worth it.
Thanks, that is the information I need.
Anybody knows if I need a Steam account to use a Pimax or OSVR?
I'm not going to discuss the virtues and vices of Facebook or Steam here.
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If you're uncomfortable with those companies then you wont what their tech in your home.
For the Rift, you only need an Oculus account, but nothing else. I don't have an FB account and that was a crucial question for me, too, as I don't want one. Don't know if that helps much, though, as Oculus are owned by FB now and their horrible usage terms more or less require you to sell all your private data to them (only privacy laws being the limit here). Good news is that it's not really better with WMR or HTC (Valve). In case of VR, you're both customer and product, you can pick any vendor you like 
O7,
[noob]
O7,
[noob]
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Indeed, that is why I ask.
For the Rift, you only need an Oculus account, but nothing else. I don't have an FB account and that was a crucial question for me, too, as I don't want one. Don't know if that helps much, though, as Oculus are owned by FB now and their horrible usage terms more or less require you to sell all your private data to them (only privacy laws being the limit here). Good news is that it's not really better with WMR or HTC (Valve). In case of VR, you're both customer and product, you can pick any vendor you like
Thanks. That is what I'm trying to figure out: what VR hardware is available without being tracked by their social networks.
If that turns out to be impossible, I will not buy a VR headset.
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Even if you had to have an account with FB, you could give a false name, set the highest privacy setting and never use it. You must be terrified of the internet full stop if you're worrying about Steam and FB. In, fact you should be off grid completely because you are bound to be tracked by companies for commercial reasons. Why deny yourself the awesome VR experience because of irrational fears?
It makes no sense.
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Deleted member 110222
D
What I want to know is what on earth are you hiding?
I don't really care what these companies know about me as there's simply nothing to hide.
He's not hiding anything, he's just got some irrational fears. Just be thankful you can live a full live without the worries he carries around in his head.
Well, the truth is it may not make any real difference at all anymore, regardless whether you have any kind of account or not. You get tracked anyway, and you cannot really escape. A friend of mine tries anyway since 20+ years, almost clandestine like that Tuttle dude from Brazil, but IMHO it's more like a sport or hobby, not even he is invisible anymore.
If you want to be shocked about what your local network (mind you, secured to best practice standards, I'm an IT pro, and I was shocked) publishes about you (or tries to), I recommend this Raspberry project:
https://pi-hole.net/
The said friend gave me a Pi ZeroW with the pi-hole software installed as birthday present, and since, it filters my internet traffic (not only ads), but any DNS queries. About 68% of these queries are blocked, it's a real whole lot of things going on behind and you would be astonished about the 'hidden' Google or FB servers collecting things in the background. All presented in a neat graphical HTML5 interface, but disturbing anyway.
O7,
[noob]
Un1k0rn, you cannot be serious!
And it's far from irrational fears. Everybody has something to hide, it's just a matter of who is in control, and privacy rights were virtually bought with blood.
In Germany, they used IBM Hollerith machines to identify the Jews, checking against church registers and other databanks of that time. Paper times, mind you.
We just got careless and, since the advent of the smart phone, sell our data for 'free' to anybody who wants it. 10 years ago, they had to make you sign a card in a promotional competition and give you a little gadget in exchange at least.
Yes, it's all convenient and it works, but may not always stay so, unfortunately.
O7,
[noob]
Ian Phillips
Volunteer Moderator
This thread and these forums are not the place(s) for politically slanted discussions. Please bear that in mind when posting your comments.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Possibly a bit off topic from the original post (but certainly related given how fb can track you) I'm intrigued by that link. I've got a raspberry pi 2 sag in a draw doing nothing...
Do you route ed through it (I assume you route everything)? Any noticeable latency issues?
About 10% here, it was mostly Twitch traffic over the last 24 hours though.
Pi Hole is indeed an awesome bit of kit, and yeah a low end Pi Zero W is absolutely fine for it.
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Pi Zero W is the low end wifi version, for home use I've not noticed any issues at all. Pi 2 should be absolutely fine.
It essentially just acts as minimal DNS server with a dynamic blocklist, so you point your clients at it (probably via DHCP) and configure the pihole server to forward on requests to your existing DNS.
It's extra great in that consider you install adblocker on your web browser install, well this is fine but what about when you connect your phone to wifi. This essentially ad/privacy blocks for the whole network.
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About 10% here, it was mostly Twitch traffic over the last 24 hours though.
Pi Hole is indeed an awesome bit of kit, and yeah a low end Pi Zero W is absolutely fine for it.
68% here indeed it was initially, we got a rather talkative Bravia Smart TV + DVD Player + Amazon Prime, and missus got 2 tablets, among other gadgets
Closed down the shop a bit, but some domains you simply cannot block. And HTTPS may be a problem unless you install a certificate.
O7,
[noob]
The chances of getting struck by lightning are really low, 1 in 700,000.
24,000 people were killed by lightning last year Most of them were aware of the low odds of getting struck by lightning.
There is a difference between an irrational fear and the awareness of the small possibility of identity theft. I realise that Google uses tracking technologies but I'm happy to use their services because I find them useful. Mark Zuckerberg has shown himself to be little more cavalier with his customers' data but it is still fairly safe. The reason I don't chance the safety of my data by using Facebook is because I don't think it's worth even that very small risk. I have never seen the appeal of Facebook.
I've also got a CV1 but I don't have a Facebook account. The choice between the Oculus and HTC headsets is very difficult. One thing you might want to consider is that Oculus believes in locking down their headset. If you change headset manufacturers in the future you might find that the games you bought through the Oculus shop don't work with your new headset.
I was just asking a purely technical question: what VR hardware is available without tracking?
As I wrote before, the aim of my post is not to discuss the vices/virtues of Facebook, Steam or tracking in general. But the discussion obviously turned another way. This is more a matter of principle to me. I basically agree with the answer by TheLawful on the previous page to your question, I'll leave it to that.
Please do not make unbased assumptions about my rationality or unfounded projections about my mental state. Post reported for taking the discussion to a personal level.
I do.
Thanks for the information.
Also thanks to TheLawful & bitstorm for the information on pi-hole. I have been teaching about similar tools (e.g. monowall+ethereal/wireshark) in my Unix/Linux system administration classes ten years ago, but I was not aware about pi-hole. I have a couple of Pi's laying around, so I'll give it a try. I also use uMatrix nowadays to block social networks and other trackers.
As I wrote before, the aim of my post is not to discuss the vices/virtues of Facebook, Steam or tracking in general. But the discussion obviously turned another way. This is more a matter of principle to me. I basically agree with the answer by TheLawful on the previous page to your question, I'll leave it to that.
Please do not make unbased assumptions about my rationality or unfounded projections about my mental state. Post reported for taking the discussion to a personal level.
I do.
Thanks for the information.
Also thanks to TheLawful & bitstorm for the information on pi-hole. I have been teaching about similar tools (e.g. monowall+ethereal/wireshark) in my Unix/Linux system administration classes ten years ago, but I was not aware about pi-hole. I have a couple of Pi's laying around, so I'll give it a try. I also use uMatrix nowadays to block social networks and other trackers.
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