...Did you play an Xbox 360 between 2008 and 2010? Big Brother was almost watching you. Documents revealed by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, 30, suggest British surveillance agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), along with the National Security Agency, considered using Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect camera to spy on users. The files were dated between 2008 and 2010, when a surveillance initiative called Optic Nerve collected photos of online users through Yahoo’s webcam chat service....Optic Nerve intercepted and filed away webcam images of millions of online users, according to leaked documents. The documents stated millions of images were stored via Yahoo webcams to agency databases, even if individuals weren’t suspected of legal wrongdoing.
In one six-month timeframe during 2008, the agency allegedly collected images from more than 1.8 million Yahoo users around the world,
reported the Guardian. Webcams would take photos every five minutes and send the images to the GCHQ database....
The NSA also spied on Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter activity with the help of intelligence system PRISM, a software program used to examine data like emails, videos and online chats. Industry experts predicted the tech mega giants could lose billions of dollars over the next several years if clients and consumers decide to employ alternative services that don’t violate their privacy. Many Internet companies alerted Congress of this possibility, calling for President Obama to take another look at the government's surveillance activities.
In January, more documents revealed the NSA and GCHQ were also tapping well-known smartphone apps and games like Rovio’s “Angry Birds” to peer into the vast collection of personal data compiled by the software from its users. Data includes personal details such as age, location, gender and even sexual preferences, reported the
New York Times. Various reports detailed attempts to amass large amounts of personal information from users via cell phone carriers and smartphones by utilizing “leaky” apps.
“When a smartphone user opens 'Angry Birds,' the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spies could be lurking in the background to snatch data revealing the player’s location, age, sex and other personal information,” the New York Times reported on Jan. 27. ....
http://www.ibtimes.com/xbox-360-kine...llance-1558555