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Oculus VR News | November 5, 2024

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Oculus Announces New Privacy Controls to Comply with GDPR Rules

Oculus Announces New Privacy Controls to Comply with GDPR Rules

Image courtesy of: Oculus

FRΛNK R.

Oculus has announced that it will begin rolling out new changes to its privacy policy, code of conduct, and terms of service ahead of the upcoming EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, which are set to go into effect on May 25th.

Oculus on Thursday introduced a new ‘My Privacy Center’ feature that will launch next month on May 20th, which will allow users easier access to manage their privacy settings, as well as be able to view and download the personal data that Oculus has collected associated with their account. Notably, however, users will not be able to see any shared information that has been de-identified, such as movements made while in VR. The new privacy center also won’t show data that is stored locally on the user’s PC, such as a user’s height when setting up the Rift, or sensitive personal data like credit card information.

In a company blog post, Oculus also addressed a number of questions regarding the way it shares user data with developers and its parent-company Facebook. Oculus reiterated its policy stance stating that it does not share user data with Facebook that would allow for third parties to target advertisements based on an individual’s behavior on the Oculus platform. Any user information currently shared with the social media giant is said to be “limited” for the purpose of improving the user’s overall experience. Users already have the option to link up their Oculus and Facebook accounts, in which case users can expect additional data to be shared across both platforms.

In addition to the privacy updates, the company’s new code of conduct is being added to the official terms of services to provide increased visibility of Oculus’ commitment to create and ensure a safe VR environment for everyone to experience and be part of together on the Oculus platform.

It’s apparent that Oculus is making a conscious effort to be more transparent in the way it collects and shares data in order to gain a level of trust with users amid the heightened public concerns over privacy and individual data use. Oculus knows that in order to grow the VR and AR ecosystem that it will need to focus on building user confidence with the way it handles and protects individual data on its platform. Hopefully, we will continue to see Oculus improve upon its privacy practices overtime for the greater good of all its users.