Is it possible for the NSA to Spy through the Xbox Kinect ?
Okay here's a new theory. Would it be possible for the NSA to Spy through the Xbox Kinect ? So not unlike Kinect, Skype had assured its users that "wiretaps were technically impossible" the company explained in 2008. And four years later, when hackers accused Skype owner Microsoft of changing the service's backend to facilitate government eavesdropping, the company categorically denied the accusations. Now, it seems like the company could have been lying, or at least had quietly changed its mind.
Mind you, Microsoft is also denying last Thursday's Guardian report, but the denial is a lot less clear-cut. The company disavows having providing "blanket or direct access" to Skype, but doesn't deny that it provides Skype video or audio to the government upon request. So even if we(consumers) take Microsoft's word that the Kinect doesn't currently upload private conversations to remote servers, can anyone trust that Microsoft won't change that in a future software update?
The Verge on this: You close a laptop when you're not using it. Your phone faces the inside of a pocket, a purse, or lies flat on a table. But the Microsoft Kinect, an always-on camera that will come with every new Xbox One game console, gets a perfect view of your living room. It's always listening for voice commands, even when you turn the Xbox off. It can even read your heartbeat with the right software.
Microsoft says it doesn't plan to abuse that power, and claims it couldn't even if it tried. The company told us that the Kinect's cameras and microphones aren't actually recording or transmitting any audio or video data back to Microsoft's servers without the user's explicit consent, and all ambiently collected data is anonymized. While some voice commands are processed at Microsoft's servers, they're converted to text before they ever leave the machine, and biometric data is translated into numerical values that simply indicate, say, where a player's limbs are during online multiplayer games.
Chuck Norris
Posts: 2537
Joined: 2012-02-06
You do realize that your cell phone is used to spy on you a 1000x more effectively.
Exactly who is the target audience for spying through the Kinect2? I don't recall Bin Laden having an Xbox Live account (or any internet for that matter, it's what gave him away ironically). ****ing nerd fantasies that the government wants to spy on them playing Gears of War 263 or crying through Titanic (you know you did).
The difference is that i´m willing to take a risk with a cellphone, not with the xbox one. Nowadays you can´t have total privacy but you can put aside what isn´t necessary or convenient. Plus, if they try to spy on me, the freaking kinect presents more monitoring capabilities than a cellphone.
Senior Member
Posts: 7390
Joined: 2003-07-23
This is very true. But the question is, why would they even bother? It's not like a government agency is going to start tapping your phone, or using the Kinect to spy on you, unless you gave them reason to do so in the first place.
Senior Member
Posts: 4958
Joined: 2009-01-28
talking about spies ........

Senior Member
Posts: 4196
Joined: 2004-09-28
Anything is possible if you are the NSA.
Will users be able to trust MS's statements to consumers about this?
As far as the xbone and Kinect 2.0 I am staying far away from that as humanly possible.
Posts: 2533
Joined: 2011-05-19
don't breathe then.