The Data Privacy of Pico VR Headsets

This article briefly covers the data privacy certifications of Pico VR headsets. As increased attention and legislative control are on data privacy, it is getting increasingly critical to present options for privacy for consumers and enterprises alike.

What are the Data Privacy Pico VR Headsets?

The data privacy focus on Pico’s VR headsets stems from their operating system: Pico Business Suite, on Pico’s enterprise VR headsets. Thus, as enterprises prioritize data privacy and secure handling of sensitive and confidential information, Pico has certified its VR headsets with the ISO 27001 standard.

So besides Pico’s official statement, all its VR headsets feature the ISO 27001 certification. This means its devices adhere to numerous privacy laws and regulations. Drafted in 2019, ISO 27001 is a standard complying with the EU GDPR, South African POPIA, Brazil’s LGPD, and the Australian Privacy Principles, restricting the aggregation and handling of personally identifiable information like names, addresses, and so on. Further, for adherence to the ISO 27001 standard, Pico is continually audited by ISO and third-party auditors, checking for its continued compliance with the security and data privacy requirements.

Finally, ISO 27001 builds on other privacy information certifications, like ISO 27002, ISO 29151, ISO 27018, and ISO 29100, meaning increased privacy and safety are implemented beyond the online aggregation of personally identifiable information. As a comparison, the picture changes with Pico’s closest competitor, Meta.

What Is The Data Privacy of Oculus Quest 2?

The Oculus Quest 2 and other VR headsets from Meta don’t feature an internationally recognized data privacy standard like ISO. Instead, Meta opts for the user to set their data privacy settings.

Yet, in the past, Meta had issues of antitrust requiring a Facebook account for Meta’s VR headsets to work. In fact, this requirement was one of the reasons behind Germany’s ban on Meta’s VR devices. Something that has been revoked from the removal of the Facebook account prerequisite. By default, Meta stores data on its servers through its VR headsets used for other parts of its business, like Facebook and Instagram. For example, Voice Commands, unless untoggled, are saved as audio recordings. Luckily, Meta has made it easy to personalize and restrict data aggregation. See this article guiding you through how to limit Meta’s storing of your data if you want to restrict this.