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Meta Will Start Collecting 'Anonymized' Data About Quest Headset Usage

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Meta will soon begin "collecting anonymized data" from users of its Quest headsets, a move that could see the company aggregating information about hand, body, and eye tracking; camera information; "information about your physical environment"; ...

That anonymized data will be used "for things like building better experiences and improving Meta Quest products for everyone," the company writes.- "Your audio data, when your microphone preferences are enabled, to animate your avatar's lip and face movement" - "Certain data" about hand, body, and eye tracking, "such as tracking quality and the amount of time it takes to detect your hands and body" - Fitness-related information such as the "number of calories you burned, how long you've been physically active, [and] your fitness goals and achievements" - "Information about your physical environment and its dimensions" such as "the size of walls, surfaces, and objects in your room and the distances between them and your headset" - "Voice interactions" used when making audio commands or dictations, including audio recordings and transcripts that might include "any background sound that happens when you use those services" (these recordings and transcriptions are deleted "immediately" in most cases, Meta writes) - Information about "your activity in virtual reality," including "the virtual reality events you attend" The anonymized collection data is used in part to "analyz[e] device performance and reliability" to "improve the hardware and software that powers your experiences with Meta VR Products." Those who use a legacy Oculus account are subject to a separate privacy policy that describes a similar but more limited set of data-collection practices.

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