Oculus Accidentally Hid Messages Mocking Privacy in Thousands of New Controllers
Tens of thousands of Oculus Touch controllers have been accidentally released with hidden “Easter Eggs” mocking privacy concerns in various phrases printed on an internal component of some devices, Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell revealed in a tweet.
Phrases including “This Space For Rent” and “The Masons Were Here” were meant to appear on prototypes of the Touch controller, wrote the Oculus executive in a tweet Friday. But Mitchell says these “accidentally made it onto the internal hardware for tens of thousands of Touch controllers.”
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“Unfortunately, some “easter egg” labels meant for prototypes accidentally made it onto the internal hardware for tens of thousands of Touch controllers,” wrote Mitchell, adding that a small number of development kits also featured the messages “Big Brother is Watching” and “Hi iFixit! We See You!” – a reference to the well-known hardware repair site. These phrases don’t appear in any consumer devices, says Mitchell, whose parent company Facebook is regularly fighting accusations of spying on its users.
“While I appreciate easter eggs, these were inappropriate and should have been removed. The integrity and functionality of the hardware were not compromised, and we’ve fixed our process so this won’t happen again.”
While none of the affected consumer devices have been shipped so far, they will ultimately go out with these hidden messages. The re-designed Oculus Touch controllers are developed for the Oculus Rift S, with plans to ship sometime this Spring. Oculus is also gearing up to release Oculus Quest, an all-in-one VR headset, in the coming months.
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