cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Possible Privacy Concerns With The Oculus Tracking Camera?

Burns
Honored Guest
At the Oculus Connect Keynote Group Discussion, there was a question that analogously asked, "What could happen to let VR fail again?"

And I asked that myself too. I live in Europe and for some reason privacy concerns is a hot topic there, legitimate or not.
Could the camera somehow could be a obstacle because of that?
15 REPLIES 15

Wireline
Explorer
After realising that a Kinect can be used to create incredibly good 3d renders of any room its placed in (https://share.oculus.com/app/kso---kinect-scanned-office) I think we are past the point where we should be concerned about potentially privacy invading technologies being in our homes. They are already there, in profusion.

If you think about it, our laptops have cameras and microphones and we are surrounded by telephones every minute of every day, with microphones and the ability to track our position down to a metre. There is also tech that can extract sound from silent video, so even if you don't have a camera, you can still eavesdrop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKXOucXB4a8).

It depends. Some countries are totally passive and apathetic about privacy ("I don't have anything to hide, why should I be afraid?" or "I don't care if the NSA knows what porn I look at" being internet favourites) and others have it higher up the list of priorities. I don't think it will be an issue in the UK anyway. They could bring in labour camps here and we'd just sigh and go "well, that's a bit off. Still, mustn't grumble" :lol: :roll:

klasodeth
Honored Guest
"Burns" wrote:
At the Oculus Connect Keynote Group Discussion, there was a question that analogously asked, "What could happen to let VR fail again?"

And I asked that myself too. I live in Europe and for some reason privacy concerns is a hot topic there, legitimate or not.
Could the camera somehow could be a obstacle because of that?

While it's been proven that it's possible to get a usable picture out of the tracking camera, it would be harder to do than with a normal webcam. As Wireline already pointed out, lots of computers already have cameras built into them, and in fact many phones have rear-facing cameras now, so it's possible for your phone to look at you while you're using it. I think some people's privacy concerns are misplaced, as they worry about the implications of the camera getting hacked, while not caring at all that they deliberately connect their devices to a network that enables the camera--and all data--on the device to get hacked in the first place.

Cgpnz
Honored Guest
You are concerned about moving dots impressions of yourself?
I presume the led's are all that is registered on the IR camera's
image chip, which is then translated to coordinate deltas down the usb wires.
That's all there is.

kojack
MVP
MVP
"Cgpnz" wrote:
You are concerned about moving dots impressions of yourself?
I presume the led's are all that is registered on the IR camera's
image chip, which is then translated to coordinate deltas down the usb wires.
That's all there is.

It can see more than that, we had a whole thread on it.
https://developer.oculusvr.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11385&start=80#p167636
Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

pandaspur
Honored Guest
If you're really concerned, or think Oculus should be, there's two easy solutions:

1. Camera lens cover. There are all sorts of these for different types of webcams, that let you basically move a plastic piece to cover or uncover the lens. Oculus could just include those if they really cared.

2. Unplug the camera. Oculus could make this even easier if they installed some sorta switch on the camera itself. But even webcam companies dont go this far. Actually, the DK2 tracking camera is even easier to unplug than all webcams I've come across because the USB cable is detachable on the camera side.

We should be fine.

Privacy concerns tend to be directed at social media and advertising companies anyway.
Either that, or directed at companies that have vulnerable software which can allow attackers to steal info.
In this case, the Windows OS would have to have a vulnerability for someone to maliciously take over your Oculus camera since the Oculus doesnt connect to the internet directly by itself.

I don't think Oculus could be held liable in any case.

Riftology
Honored Guest
Or you could just shut your pc down after every use so no power to camera

ThreeEyes
Explorer
http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/467-post-your-latest-print/page-123#entry64761

It would be very easy to have your own lens cap made at at place like Shapeways, or there are probably lots of things that could fit or be taped over the lens.

But I'm with Klasodeth on this one. Anyone who pwns your computer to take pictures with the DK2 camera already has access to everything on it - email, browsing history, caches, documents, logins, passwords, financial information, etc. And lots of people posting executables, or mirroring them, provides a ready path for infection and compromise. I have yet to see any app or experience have a hash value posted so people can know if it has been tampered with and that assumes the originator didn't add a little something extra.

And yep, sounds paranoid. But anyone worried about their camera being used to gather images or video is already presupposing compromise.
But... but... but... I just NEED to know about the Baba! The Baba has me hypmotized! :shock:

IsoMacintosh
Explorer
I just cant imagine NSA being that interested in seeing a Finnish nerd fapping to MLP and lolicon or arguing with people on OculusVR forums. 😄
Or are you worried about someone else? Here in Finland its the NSA that watches everyone with a tinfoil hat.

saviornt
Protege
"IsoMacintosh" wrote:
I just cant imagine NSA being that interested in seeing a Finnish nerd fapping to MLP and lolicon or arguing with people on OculusVR forums. 😄
Or are you worried about someone else? Here in Finland its the NSA that watches everyone with a tinfoil hat.


There was a news article from an "anonymous source" that stated that the majority of the videos and pictures captured by webcams were in fact, pornographic in nature.

Now, back on topic, yes, there is a privacy concern with the Oculus tracking camera. Yes, it can be hacked to show the hacker your room / person. If it's plugged into your computer, it can be hacked (unless you are not connected).

As far as the kinect goes, it is pandora's box. It will take only one instance in which someone will hold a family hostage, barricade all the rooms and windows.. they will subpeona Microsoft to provide a live feed from the Kinect camera to inside the house. Doesn't seem that bad, in that instance.. however, it will open the box for further intrusions upon our personal lives.. a search warrant for any minor infraction or made up excuse.. "we need a search warrant for the camera because we suspect that this 15 year old kid is playing call of duty as training material to shoot up his school, even though we don't have any proof of it!". Hell, they may just forgo the entire due process in getting a warrant and just hack into it.

Keep in mind that government agencies and the people that work for them are above the law, as has been proven over and over. How our (American) government should work is very different than how it does work.

I'll end it here since this is not the appropriate forum to express my views.
Current WIPs using Unreal Engine 4: Agrona - Tales of an Era: Medieval Fantasy MORPG