Oculus Sensors are Technically Hackable Webcams

[Zarathustra[H]]

Is Facebook using your Oculus Rift to spy on you? That's the question UploadVR is asking after a University of California, Davis researcher has come forward demonstrating how easy it is to pull image data off of an Oculus.

Oculus is adamant that this is not the case, and image data is only used for motion tracking and then quickly disgarded, but who knows? And, in a world where even Mark Zuckerberg puts tape on his webcam, maybe Oculus or Facebook are not who we should be worrying about? Tell us your thoughts in the forum comments!

Essentially what this means is that Oculus told the Sensor not to announce itself to the Windows operating system as a camera. If it did, Windows might automatically pull up its standard webcam drivers, which is not what Oculus wants. Instead, there’s a custom driver they want Windows to use to interface with the Sensor so that it functions only in tandem with the Rift. Kreylos describes this as a layer of “obfuscation” and says it is one of a few that Oculus employs to keep what is, in essence, a camera from behaving like one.

 

[SeymourGore]

Not sure if I want to know what makes a jerk video "crazy".

 

[Spidey329]

Well this went from 0 to awkward fast.

 

[DocSavage]

So does the Vive have optical sensors?

 

[DocSavage]

Well this went from 0 to awkward fast.

We are all [H]ard here at the [H]ard|OCP forums

 

[Aireoth]

I trust very little with Zuckerberg attached to it, very happy I cancelled my Oculus order and went with Vive.

 

[FrgMstr]

I trust very little with Zuckerberg attached to it, very happy I cancelled my Oculus order and went with Vive.

Oculus has no commitment to the high end VR gaming market. They could care less about "us." They want the low hanging fruit in VR, nothing more, nothing less. And that is OK, but Vive is looking forward to driving the market forward in terms of high end technology and enthusiast gaming content.

 

[Seventyfive]

How long until we see overpriced $20 oculus sensor covers popping up?

 

[MrAhlefeld]

How long until we see overpriced $20 oculus sensor covers popping up?

How long untill we see multi angle FB videos of Ocolus Rift owners "caught on (not cameras) looking silly" and suckerberg auto posting them on FB cause everybody did not read the fine print of the EULA of the Rift that makes data from the "sensors" FB property. (Just made that Up) im No Rift owner so haven't read it..LOL

 

[sir-gold]

So does the Vive have optical sensors?

Both the Vive headset and Vive controllers are literally covered in cameras (that's what all the dimples are), but they are low resolution cameras.

 

[Meeho]

People just submitted it.
I don't know why.
They "trust me"
Dumb fucks

 

[HeadRusch]

Those of us with Rifts bought these. You wedge them on and just flip up the covers when you want them obscured. My guess is the next version of OR technology takes this into account. Gen 1 people, Gen 1. Also, Kyle, care to elaborate on your statement above about Oculus having no interest but Vive catering to the high end gaming market? Is that simply stating that Vive is a gaming company making a gaming headset or based on other factors. Just curious, not a challenge.

 

[LurkerLito]

Both the Vive headset and Vive controllers are literally covered in cameras (that's what all the dimples are), but they are low resolution cameras.

Vive has no cameras except the one on the front of the headset that you can disable or even put tape on if you feel like it and the system still works. The dimples have photosensors (like the IR sensor on your DVD player that reads the remote control signals). It cannot "see" anything but the light sent out via the lighthouses.
Go here for a full explanation: http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-valve-s-amazing-lighthouse-tracking-technol-1705356768

 

[Makaveli@BETA]

Not sure if I want to know what makes a jerk video "crazy".

Putting on a Tin Foil hat while you do it equals crazy

 

[Rvenger]

Those of us with Rifts bought these. You wedge them on and just flip up the covers when you want them obscured. My guess is the next version of OR technology takes this into account. Gen 1 people, Gen 1. Also, Kyle, care to elaborate on your statement above about Oculus having no interest but Vive catering to the high end gaming market? Is that simply stating that Vive is a gaming company making a gaming headset or based on other factors. Just curious, not a challenge.

I wanted to weigh in on this. This is a silly idea IMO. Not to mention you can lose calibration on your sensors for oculus touch if you move the sensor while flipping up your lids.

Just disable the sensors in device manager. Problem solved.

 

[HeadRusch]

I wanted to weigh in on this. This is a silly idea IMO. Not to mention you can lose calibration on your sensors for oculus touch if you move the sensor while flipping up your lids.

Just disable the sensors in device manager. Problem solved.

Hasn't been a problem for me so far. Hooking to a HUB and unplugging the hub might work, as you state disabling services or shutting off the devices is another. This is the sneakernet version.

 

[Rvenger]

I think what bothers me the most is how the sensors stay warm to the touch even when they are idle and Oculus home is off. Disabling them in device manager completely shuts the power off where they go cold. I have forgotten to enable them when I launched a game and I can simply alt tab to the desktop, go into device manager and enable without even restarting anything. (If playing controller enabled oculus games, not touch)