Xbox One

[revelarts]

When Microsoft launched its new Xbox One console last week, rave reviews calling it “awesome” and “stunning” were quickly forgotten when gamers began complaining about how the device doesn’t work with their old favorites (among other things). Now Microsoft has a new Xbox-related headache courtesy of Germany’s privacy chief, who is alarmed by its potential intrusive surveillance capabilities.

The complaint stems from the latest version of the motion-sensing Kinect technology. The Kinect device designed for the Xbox One can monitor users’ movements with a camera that sees in the dark, picks up voice commands with a microphone, and reads your heart rate using infrared cameras that track blood flow underneath the skin. Because the device is connected to the Internet, malicious hackers could potentially hijack the console and use it for spying. In addition, Microsoft has filed a patent that suggests it is interested in using Kinect to count the number of people in a room in order to charge each person for providing pay-per-user content. The patent outlines how a camera could be used with face and gesture recognition as part of a Kinect-style system to enforce “age and identity restrictions” on certain kinds of content, effectively granting copyright holders virtual access to private dwellings, as Wired described it.


Microsoft has attempted to play down the privacy fears, claiming that it is “a leader in the world of privacy” and adding that it is not “using Kinect to snoop on anybody at all.” But this has not convinced officials in Germany. In an interview published Sunday by Der Spiegel, the country’s federal data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, said he was unsettled by how the Xbox One “records all sorts of personal information” that would be “processed on an external server” and possibly passed on to third parties. "The fact that Microsoft is now spying on my living room is just a twisted nightmare," Schaar told the newspaper.


Some reports have claimed that the microphone and the camera for the Kinect device would be “always on” and “constantly listening and watching.” Microsoft told gaming website Kotaku that this isn’t the case and that “you can turn the system completely off." The company also says that the new Kinect will have “simple, easy methods to customize privacy settings, provide clear notifications and meaningful privacy choices for how data will be used, stored and shared." But you can bet that it will take more than these vague assurances to satisfy Germany’s aggressively privacy-protective officials. And if Microsoft fails to substantively address the privacy concerns, it could well find itself facing legal action in Germany—as Facebook has discovered on more than one occasion.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te...tmare_for.html

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http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...atent-snooping
Microsoft files for living room-snooping patent

Technology

07 November 12 by Olivia Solon


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</figure> Microsoft has filed a patent application for a Kinect-based system that could be used to monitor the number of people in a room watching a TV with a view to giving content creators accurate viewing figures and a pay-per-user-view model.
The system would use the Kinect camera to check the number of viewers in any room and then prompt the consumer to purchase the appropriate license based on that number. This would mean that you would pay more, for example, for a family of six than if you were watching a piece of content on your own.
The patent filing explains that "delivering audiovisual entertainment has progressed from physical media to digital downloads...In delivering such media, content providers often seek compensation based on the number of times content can be presented on a particular system."
The technology solution that Microsoft has come up with would allow "content providers to regulate the presentation of content on a per-user-view basis. Content is distributed to consuming devices, such as televisions, set-top boxes and digital displays, with an associated license option on the number of individual consumers or viewers allowed to consume the content."
The limitation placed on the content might simply be a fixed number of users views, a number of user views over a certain time period, a number of simultaneous user views or views tide to user identities. This could even allow for age restriction -- i.e. if the Kinect recognises you as being under 18, it won't show 18 movies.
The terrifying thing about this patent is that it would grant copyright holders virtual access to private dwellings. The patent application suggests that the technology could be applied to head-mounted devices, large screens, computers and even mobile phones. While it might make sense to allow the likes of Sky to monitor whether people have bought home-use licenses for use in commercial spaces (something which Sky charges more highly for), it seems that the wording covers a much wider range applications. It would seem that three people crowded round an iPad would be just as susceptible as a pub full of people crowded round a TV to watch the football.
At the slightly less sinister end of the spectrum, the technology could also, presumably, be used by TV channels to generate accurate viewing figures.