Thursday, October 22nd 2020
Looking for a Paperweight? Buy an Oculus Quest 2 and Get Your Facebook Account Locked
We've all been there - we've all looked longingly at someone elses' flashy paperweight - an Escher puzzle, a coffee mug, a smartphone, a badly flashed GPU or even a face mask are all worthy contenders vying for our attention. Facebook, however, has been turning the paperweight game on its head, and in the real world too - some users who bought the most recent Quest 2 headset (which is apparently selling pretty well) are being given the opportunity to adorn their desks with this high-tech, low-key paperweight due to its Facebook-required integration. Essentially, users who have their Facebook accounts banned (or, more specifically, with pending verification) have been met with difficulties in actually using their Quest 2 (which, by all accounts, is a huge step forward for the VR space).
Facebook's integration with Oculus was something that was guaranteed not to happen back during the acquisition; however, recently, we've discovered that Facebook integration would become mandatory for all Oculus headsets (previous models will be grandfathered via their Oculus accounts until 2023), and that the Quest 2 would be the first headset to mandate that users link their Facebook accounts. The problem stems from Facebook flagging accounts for verification - if that user has an Oculus Quest 2, they won't be able to use the device until the account has been successfully verified. This can be a lengthy process, as Facebook employs a photograph verification process that can sometimes take upwards of three months to get human validation form Facebook's side. Users trying to reactivate old Facebook accounts to use with the Quest 2 have been successfully linked, only to be immediately locked out due to identity verification requirements.
Facebook's idea on Real Identity (where any one account actually fully represents a single person that exists in the non-digital world, and is thus much more valuable for data gathering and advertising revenue) is partly to blame here, as it may bring an overzealous disposition to the table - at least when it comes to Oculus Quest 2 paperweights. For now, Facebook is directing Quest 2 users who have run into these account verification issues to try and clear them with Oculus support. here's hoping that process takes a little less than three months.
Source:
Upload VR
Facebook's idea on Real Identity (where any one account actually fully represents a single person that exists in the non-digital world, and is thus much more valuable for data gathering and advertising revenue) is partly to blame here, as it may bring an overzealous disposition to the table - at least when it comes to Oculus Quest 2 paperweights. For now, Facebook is directing Quest 2 users who have run into these account verification issues to try and clear them with Oculus support. here's hoping that process takes a little less than three months.
104 Comments on Looking for a Paperweight? Buy an Oculus Quest 2 and Get Your Facebook Account Locked
Reading this as
"Buy an Oculus Quest 2, then (do something to) get your FB account locked" (which from what I can tell is what you intended to say) and
"Buy an Oculus Quest 2, and they will lock your FB account"
are about equally reasonable readings of the title. The latter might be more of a vernacular reading (along the verbal rhythm of various "do/get A, and you'll also get B"), but it's not an unreasonable reading. Substituting "and" for "then" opens up the possible meanings of the sentence by quite a lot.Discussing whether or not a company has the right to require a user account for you to use their product is an inherently political question.Let me quote myself, as it apparently bears repeating:The main objection here seems to be that the required account is a Facebook account rather than an Oculus account, which makes this a debate of whether we as a society should accept corporations to exist on a scale such as this or whether they need to be broken up due to their conglomerate nature putting unreasonable pressures on users.
And, again, you were saying this is not political?
Sure, you can use it with just OTA TV and a USB stick, but come on...
But I'm sure you know what I was talking about, TV was just the first thing that popped into my head. And while this particular example may a bit of a stretch, that's what lawyers thrive on anyway :D
However, your title and story could have been written in a much better format to avoid being clickbait.
That said, if anyone is going to put a stop to corporations like Facebook using such tactics in their business model, it's going to require legislation and laws limiting how much control manufacturers have over devices they make once sold to the end user. Such laws are LONG over due.
The concept of politics is in no way limited to formalized and institutional politics - that's just its most explicit embodiment. Trying to convince someone to change their opinion about something that affects their position in or view of the world? That's a political activity (and what politicians do when they are campaigning). Trying to analyze why something in society or the world works in a certain way? That's the basis upon which political action is possible. Etc., etc. Claiming that "politics" is limited to its institutionalized embodiments is either willful ignorance (such as wanting the word to have a more narrow meaning than what it does due to the negative connotations of the word) or just plain misunderstanding of how things work. But this is getting very OT, so I would really prefer to leave this discussion here.
At this point, I'm grateful hammers and screwdrivers don't need online registration.
I'm amazed (no, not really) the environmentalists don't have anything to say about this.
I sort of like that.I'm sorry Raevenlord but I'm inclined to agree here.Probably a vizio. Good luck if you go online for even 5 seconds with one of those.
I made that mistake before I bought my LG. My nice new Vizio updated quickly without my consent, and killed it's ability to do chroma 444 in an eye blink. No reverting. It was nope-spidered back to the store really quickly.