Supervisor: Mandatory login with FB account on Oculus may be illegal

The requirement for existing users of Oculus headsets to log in with a Facebook account may be illegal under the GDPR, a German regulator said. Oculus has temporarily stopped selling headsets in Germany.

The regulator, the Hamburg Data Protection Commissioner, calls the obligation in a statement to Heise ‘legally extremely doubtful’. The regulator also refers to data exchange between Facebook and WhatsApp, “although two German administrative courts have ruled that such a procedure is not allowed under data protection law.”

The Hamburg regulator refers to the GDPR, Article 7 paragraph 3. This is a provision on terms of use for services that regulates that consent can be withdrawn as easily as it is given. “The data subject has the right to withdraw his consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on the consent before its withdrawal. Before the data subject gives his consent, he shall be informed thereof. Withdrawing consent is as simple as giving it. “

Oculus has responded by temporarily stopping sales of headsets in Germany. The Facebook subsidiary says it hopes it can start sales again soon. The requirement for a Facebook account with Oculus headsets for new and existing users came out two weeks ago.