How did this thread turn into a comparison between modern America and Nazi Germany? Anyways, while I really think Microsoft has no ill intentions with their console in this regard, you have to admit, a console that's always connected to the internet, with a camera and microphone that work even while they're off, seems like some gross big brother shit.

Standard operating procedure for FBI wiretapping programs, when they're exposed, is for the courts to shut them down, without exposing sensitive material. The problem is as soon as Operation Pandabear is shut down, they open up an exact duplicate, e.g. Operation Sundance, keeping almost everything about the former illegal operation the same. Technically Operation Pandabear ceases to exist. So they're absolved of blame of any former Ops.

These weren't major operations either. They were basic domestic civilian surveillance programs. What you would classify as spying on your standard Joe.

I used to have a number of links which documented the history of a number of these Ops this past decade. But no more. Many of them were documented by CNet though. So if you're genuinely interested search there.

It takes me a year to read a book

People are unstable, and the Internet gives them a platform for expressing that fact.

And yeah, there are real concerns here that need to be taken seriously. It doesn't take a crazy person to see that.

I don't get why people think MS would be spying on us. It's the LIVING ROOM. And it's an entertainment console. All they will be able to see is us playing games or watching movies and TV and the occasional fap.

I wrote something on this whole privacy thing, don't think it's been approached in this thread so maybe it's just blindingly obvious my concerns are wrong? :)

Anyway, for what it's worth, TL:DR: could privacy law restrict some Xbox One games from entire regions?

This is possibly the most despicable thread I've ever read on Giant Bomb.

LOL Wut? Bill Gates Donates to charities allt he time, He Doesn't even run Microsoft anymore, he does random consultant work with them. They actually stated getting shady after he left. Even Though he's incredibly rich it's actually wide known he's actually you know, a nice and senslible person. I'm not even a fanboy either, I refuse to use any version of windows past XP x64 and I won't touch xb1 with a ten foot pole.

@jouseldelka: I Torrented the audiobook in high school. It's pretty interesting.

It's not that long.

Also, what the fuck is going in this thread?

Saying "Xbox on" when it's in a low power state seems pretty convenient to me. Also, most of us have a camera and a microphone 3 inches away from our dicks at all times. A camera in the living room is the least of our problems.

Fine. I will stop hearkening to Orwell novels. This has more of a Huxley feel to it anyways with most of you not caring if you are watched or not. Go read "Brave New World" then come back and comment on this thread. Better?

Of course it's convenient. Is it convenient enough though?

Convenient enough, that I'll put up with having an always on camera and microphone in my house? No.

I seriously doubt Microsoft is doing anything (especially) sinister with it, but the whole concept can go fuck itself.

You are of course free to think otherwise and install your monitoring device once it hits shelves. :)

Shh. Don't struggle. It'll be over soon.

So who wants to talk about FASCISM?

WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Which version of Kinect allows me to summon a live dance performance from Usher Raymond?

one more false flag is needed before people on giant bomb will accept the possibility that their video game consoles are spying on them

stellar wind bruouh

The gross thing is that Microsoft is using the information as marketing data to make even more money from ads on the Xbox One. You pay for the console, you pay the yearly subscription, and they still record you to find the best way to shove ads at you.

chemtrails guys

Yes. That is what the Xbox One is and M$ said that in the reveling event. It will probably collect info like how many people are there in the room while playing a game or watching a movie, at witch point your heart rate goes up or if you blush when you see new pair of boobies that have next gen physics applied to them. Why would it not collect this info, if it is legal to do so?

So, yes I am with Germany on this one.

What a bunch of conspiracy theory nonsense. History has shown that governments always have the people's best interest at heart and they never abuse their authority. Governments and corporations never work together for their own benefits in spite of what may be in the best interest of the people. Fascism is a fantasy of hack sci-fi novelists and could never happen in the real world. The people would never sit back and let such a thing happen. And what harm could happen from merely being monitored in your own home? You aren't committing any crimes, are you?

praise obama

ANT, DONT QUESTION THE COLONY.

I don't doubt Microsoft is collecting data for advertising purposes, but I doubt it's connected to the government at all.
Besides, as I'm typing this, there's a plugged-in USB microphone within inches, and a webcam plugged-in and pointed at my face, so somebody could be monitoring me right now, if they really wanted to.

The main problem I have with this theory is... think about the manpower that would be needed for this kind of operation.

Let's say this whole government monitoring thing is true... and let's just estimate that the government has 2,000,000 cameras being monitored in the US.
Let's even say that one government employee is able to monitor 20 different cameras at once (and that's on the high end). That's 100,000 different monitoring stations, equipped with 20 cameras each.
Now, take into account that for each of those workstations you'd need to run it 24/7 and the average salary for a government job is $15-$20/hr.
There are 168 hours in one week. $15*168hrs = $2520 Salary paid per week. Let's multiply that by the 100,000 monitoring stations, that's $252,000,000 paid per week. Multiply that by the average of 4 weeks in a month, that's $1,008,000,000. ONE BILLION DOLLARS PER MONTH being spent to run monitoring operations on 2,000,000 cameras.
For the record, $252,000,000*53 weeks = $13,356,000,000. 13 Billion dollars is kind of a lot of money to spend in a year.

Some might say 2,000,000 cameras is kind of a high estimate.
Well, let's re-do this math with 500,000 cameras.

500,000/20 = 25,000 Monitoring stations.
15*168 = $2520 Salary paid per week for one monitoring station.
$2520*25,000 = $63,000,000 Salary paid per week for 25,000 Monitoring stations.
$63,000,000*4 weeks = $252,000,000 Average salary paid out per month.
$63,000,000*53 weeks = $3,339,000,000 Average salary paid out per year.

So even on the low end, it's still incredibly costly to run this kind of operation... and for what? Security?
I don't think the government is all that interested in spending this kind of money to spy on it's citizens.
I think it's a lot more reasonable to think that they may end up using this kind of monitoring technology to spy on people who are already suspected of illegal activity, previously convicted criminals, or people on blacklists.

Otherwise, I have to say, you people are fucking crazy to assume the government is watching everybody, at all times.

I don't know which reality you're from, but in this one it's 2013 and we've invented devices capable of processing information. I most commonly hear them referred to as computers.

Suprised this hasn't come up sooner. While unlikely it at least needs to be looked at and recognised if what they are making here has the capabilities to do these things.

The first thing that went through my head is that i'm not going near one of these until Microsoft has released some definitive answers on the subject.

And i'm not one of those paranoid wacko's that come to a bunch of conclusions without looking at the full extent of a subject and immediately assuming the worst, as is being done above...

All new electronics are monitoring devices.

-_-

@kaidorin said:

Yeah, but what kind of data can a computer really extract? They'll see if you're blushing or monitor your heartrate, or how long you sit on a menu item or something. It's not like it's spying on you, it's a computer... running a program.

In that case, the only thing anybody ever sees is a bunch of numbers in a spreadsheet... so at that point, what's the big deal?

Well, if you give them a finger, pretty soon they will take the whole hand. Should you not have the control of how and what kind of information the corporations gather from you? Why give them anything for free? Why such a passive, sheep-like attitude?

Yeah, what @charlie_victor_bravo said.

Also, if this was a program to spy on people for realsies, the kinect could probably extract a whole lot of information.

It doesn't just know if you're blushing and how long you sat in the pause menu. For starters, it parses spoken language to text for its command functionality to work. Dump every conversation anyone has within earshot of the microphone into a database and you could probably get something interesting with the right keyword searches.

That's just the microphone, not even touching the camera that can tell when you're doing the harlem shake correctly or not in Dance Central 2026. Not super hard to set that up to tell when you're fapping or whatever and post video of it to youtube. (Or something of actualy intel value.) :p

They are not doing this but if they really wanted to, they could.

They're just going to use it to tell if this or that ad was more effective and stuff like that, but still... why let them?

Kinect is watching you masturbate.