Should You Jailbreak the Oculus Quest from Facebook Control? EFF’s Cory Doctorow Has Advice -- And A Warning

While the Oculus Quest now comes with a mandatory Facebook log-in requirement, researchers have reportedly been able to jailbreak the VR product line -- read the announcement here from project lead Kavya Pearlman, an award-winning cybersecurity expert.

While this project almost certainly violates Oculus Quest’s terms of service, Cory Doctorow, author and longtime Special Advisor to the Electronic Frontier Frontier, has a blunt assessment of its goal: 

“If you believe in property rights, it's a no-brainer. You bought it, you own it. Whether or not Facebook is within its rights to brick your device, there's no question as to whether you're within YOUR rights to unbrick it. It's yours. What you do with it is none of Facebook's business.”

That said, Doctorow's advice on whether people should do so is much more nuanced -- and very important for VR users considering their own involvement in Oculus jailbreaking:

“It's a legal minefield,” as Doctorow puts it. “I can't give people advice because it's an area where people have to follow their conscience and heed their own risk tolerance. Facebook and other tech companies have pushed extreme, dangerous interpretations of laws like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that make it clear that they view this kind of activity as a felony. That kind of legal overreach should disgust us all: it's essentially the position that companies can write their own criminal laws, creating ‘felony contempt of business-model’ out of thin air.” 

So, disgusting -- and also a potential felony. For those who do decide to go forward nonetheless, the EFF may be able to help. Says Doctorow:

“EFF has a long track record of helping tinkerers and coders and we're always interested in hearing from people who receive threats, via our intake at [email protected], though we obviously can't promise that we'll be able to represent you, we will do our best to help, including by referring you to our ‘cooperating attorneys’ (unaffiliated lawyers with experience in these issues).”

Many VR enthusiasts (perhaps most prominently, Robert Scoble) argue that Facebook's log-in requirements are a necessary evil, because no other company is deep pocketed enough to make it possible for virtual reality to go mass market.

Doctorow isn’t impressed by that take:  

“I think it's a pretty thin argument. Facebook was started in a dorm room and trounced MySpace, a company owned by one the world's most powerful billionaires, Rupert Murdoch. The difference between then and now is that monopolists like Facebook have distorted law and policy to making competing with them impossible. The answer isn't to deliver yet more tools for dominance in more verticals to these lazy, sloppy, top-heavy monopolists.”

I speculated recently that the EFF might get involved with Facebook’s lock-in policy, but Cory notes that the organization already is advocating for broader digital privacy laws that would apply to VR products:

“The US is in desperate need of a national privacy law with a private right of action - that would mean that you, personally, could seek justice for Facebook's abuse of your privacy, rather than hoping that you can convince an attorney general or federal prosecutor to take up your cause. EFF and many of our allies have lobbied for a law that would safeguard the public's privacy rights. The issue isn't just Facebook collecting your VR data, after all: it's the whole universe of snooping, spying, invasive surveillance tech companies that scoop up your data because they can.”

Speaking for myself, I’d say the best, non-exclusive options for VR fans now are stark: 

• Keep using the Oculus Quest knowing full well that Facebook may exploit your user data in ways you may not support.
• Keep using the Oculus Quest while also advocating for new privacy laws, and hope the calvary comes soon.
• Consider jailbreaking your Oculus Quest -- but talk with a lawyer or EFF or both first.
• Buy and use a HTC-Vive or Sony PSVR instead. 

Another option might be made by the market: If Oculus Quest 2 sales are super slow this holiday season, Facebook may drop the Facebook log-in requirement out of desperation.

Comments

[Adeon Writer]

The upcoming Samsung DecaGear Vr headset is going to be around a 499 price point and absolutely squash all other headsets in terms of resolution and feature set. Just wait for Facebook to be left in the dust.

[Adeon Writer]

People only tolerate Facebook right now because they have the best hardware at this instant in time. Once a better headset comes along Facebook will be dropped like a stinky garbage bag. Not even their jailbroken, Facebookless will be worth it, can’t jailbreak a better resolution.

[Joey1058]

I vote the HTC Vive route.

[Adeon Writer]

HTC Vive at 670 USD, is one of the blurriest oldest headsets currently on the market, Don't make that mistake. There are far cheaper headsets which much higher resolution displays.

[Adeon Writer]

(and it's controllers don't even have analog sticks)

[Joey1058]

@Adeon Writer: I agree. Perhaps I should have said 'stay away from OC2 at any cost'.

[Joey1058]

Q2. Way too early in the morning for me. Wagner, you need an edit function...

[krista]

facebook is nasty, and even if you jailbreak their gear (which i completely support your right to do), you are still supporting facebook and their platform.

if you purchase a facebook product, you are selling out for cheap crap. period. there's no other justification than your morals are worth cheap vr gear. it's no different than purchasing cookies from a nazi bakery because they were cheaper and you plan on eating them elsewhere.

if you still choose to give money to facebook, that's your prerogative... but don't pretend that you aren't supporting facebook.