-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Microsoft will "aggressively challenge" any gov't attempt to spy through Kinect
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
THEY SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT SKYPE HOLY SHIT
I'm done here, fucking start a new religion you weirdos.
Osiris
I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
They also promised there was no backdoor capability with Skype.
Technically true of course, they just added one on request after making that statement.
Which would be?
NullPointer
Member
Except in this case we know for a fact that Microsoft is a witch.
Why do we need our console looking at us all the time again >_<?
Its just stupid... its the most stupid since stupidity.
Id never buy a console that mandated that, cause it freaks me out. Call me old fashioned. It isnt even that the government could use it, its just that its watching......
Its just stupid... its the most stupid since stupidity.
Id never buy a console that mandated that, cause it freaks me out. Call me old fashioned. It isnt even that the government could use it, its just that its watching......
If you are taking your console offline forever I agree.
But why would you trust Microsoft in saying that you are able to completely disable Kinect although you cannot unplug it?
As you are surely aware of the Xbox One is a completely closed system - there is literally no way to know if the toggle in the GUI "Kinect off" is really doing what it
says it's doing in the first place. Even if this setting would work as described there is know way to know if it is possible to remotely and secretly override this setting - from a technical point of view this would be no problem at all.
I cannot fathom the level of trust some people place in Microsoft although they have proven numerous times already that privacy means nothing to them.
toddhunter
Member
It still listens for "xbox on" "xbox off".
Do you think Kinect is sitting there going "lalala" and blocking its ears until it hears those specific commands?
Unknown One
Member
Don't think that was comparable. The latter was a stupid mistake on Sony's part and they paid for it. Microsoft is a huge participate in the Prism scandal.
some of you..
Snowdens revaltions are surely a product of our imagination... right?
Microsoft openly admitting that it's possible to use kinect as a tool to spy on people isn't worrying at all... right?
some of you...
There.
NullPointer
Member
You can turn that feature off in software.
But as long as the thing has power there's no way to be sure whether its listening or not.
family_guy
Member
Personally I would be less concerned with MS giving out that information and more concerned about hackers targeting the system just to prove a point.
I disagree 100%
Sorry
I wanted an all digital system. The 24 hour thing was the one thing I didn't like. I also love Kinect for my family. I'm putting $740 into the X1 day one along side my PS4.
Every positive story I've seen in the last week has been berated..constantly. Any response to change or encourage, attacked.
You might aswell throwaway your smartphone, tablet and laptop while you're at it! They have always connected cameras and microphones! Come on people.
sleeping_dragon
Banned
They just want to watch your reaction when you play Titan Falls. It's no big deal.
Um... those cameras arent always on when you use those devices >.> a little light also turns up to show you its on.
Glorified G
Member
So it still plugged in and has power. Interesting disabling feature
KoopaTheCasual
Junior Member
I think that's another reason why people are laughing at this comment so much. With a mandatory comply notice from the government, how will this aggressive challenge amount to anything? They shouldn't have commented on this, because all it did was entertain people's wild suspicions that it actually IS possibly for the government to access the Kinect.
They need to do some serious downsizing in their PR department ( -_(\ )
Ploid 3.0
Member
If hackers could hack into xbox one's that would be the holy grail of trolling or ratting, well if they can actually troll the people they hack. If they can't cause the xbox to go to websites (the websites that have shocking animated gifs or such. Stuff like 2 girls 1 cup), or control the xbox and watch the reactions of the people they won't want to do it much at least.
You guys make it out to be like they are constantly watching everybody.. if they would have to do that they would def have a good reason to spy on you not just randomly picking portals and checking.
also if they can do it through kinect they can do it through your pc cam.. 3ds's cam.. vita's cam.. your mobile device cam is probably the best to hit.
So it's ok for Microsoft to do it because others are doing it as well? smh...
Of course it's a problem with all US based companies - but this thread is about Microsofts valiant pledge to protect it's customers privacy... Skype, outlook.com and Skydrive say hello...
They'll also have a list of people the "suspect" interacted with on Xbox Live, so for example if you randomly played a multiplayer match with one such person then the government will certainly want to know what you were doing and talking about on Xbox Live and possibly elsewhere.
Ivan A Nguyen
Member
Aggressively challenge in a secrect court? Just promise you'll kill the network code for it of you loose.
The government in question here is the US government. Maybe some of the citizens here don't mind since it's their country but what if it is China for example? Are you still comfortable with a foreign country collecting data of you and your family?
Part of me want to see how the Europe and Asia respond to Xbox One with regards to this.'The government' is not our government, not that this has any justification for them to do so to begin with.
Part of me want to see how the Europe and Asia respond to Xbox One with regards to this.'The government' is not our government, not that this has any justification for them to do so to begin with.
For the stuff that is battery powered and usually (most of the time) sit on people's pocket, yeah. You know how much battery is consumed when your smartphone send stuff over wifi? Crazy a lot.
twothunder
Member
Seems like they can collect voice and video data afterall.
In that case. Microsoft "challenging" the government is quite worthless. If the US goverment wants that data. They will get it.
In that case. Microsoft "challenging" the government is quite worthless. If the US goverment wants that data. They will get it.
No they cant.
NullPointer
Member
So the tinfoil hat stuff that you have a problem with is purely the stuff that exists in your own imagination?
Who has brought up the NSA constantly watching everybody at random besides you?
RobotRocker
Member
Actually, if they mention it's based around Skype functionality then they just confirmed it can be done through Vita as well. And since AT&T are also on PRISM then the Vita's 4G is completely vulnerable as well.
Bet the NSA are just salivating getting all that data from all those Vita owners!
ElectricKaibutsu
Member
Just let me unplug that stupid Kinect when I'm not using it. I don't care if the government spies on me while I'm playing Star Wars Lightsaber Dual.
SirMossyBloke
Member
You've never used Kinect have you? I chat to my parents back in the UK every week through Kinect chat.
toddhunter
Member
You are misunderstanding.
Given access, do you think a government is going to go "Oh, they turned off this software setting, guess we are totally out of luck". If it can still be set to listen when "turned off" this can be re-enabled at any time.
Kinect is not always on either. Just because its connected doesnt mean it's on. If the government wants to spy they have much better avenues with a smartphone(gps, mics, cameras, text history, call history) and laptop(cameras, mics, chat and search history, emails) than they ever would with kinect.
They are already doing this, so bend over for the sake of Microsoft.
Yes it is. It's even on when you turn off the console so that you can use voice commands to turn it on
why couldn't they? because you can turn them off? you can turn you xbone off as well.
Posting just to highlight this:
"And we'd aggressively challenge in court any attempts to try and force us to do so."
Microsoft, Google, etc. were not forced to cooperate with NSA/PRISM. They did it voluntarily.
Microsoft will cooperate voluntarily again because there's money in it for them. There won't be any "forcing" going on. This is a smart, sneaky sentence on Microsoft's part.
"And we'd aggressively challenge in court any attempts to try and force us to do so."
Microsoft, Google, etc. were not forced to cooperate with NSA/PRISM. They did it voluntarily.
Microsoft will cooperate voluntarily again because there's money in it for them. There won't be any "forcing" going on. This is a smart, sneaky sentence on Microsoft's part.
This seems like BS from Microsoft, but to be fair, is there really any big company on the people's side for this type of issue?
There basically is no legal hurdle the government can't overcome at this point. They get their warrants through secret courts which approve requests at a rate far in excess of 99%. If by some miracle they are denied, the government can still appeal.
So when MS or anyone else gets ordered to to hand things over, challenging that is difficult since all the relevant facts are secret. I'd like to add for the record, this is a great thing, because the NSA is protecting us from terrorism. I appreciate and approve of all their actions.
There basically is no legal hurdle the government can't overcome at this point. They get their warrants through secret courts which approve requests at a rate far in excess of 99%. If by some miracle they are denied, the government can still appeal.
So when MS or anyone else gets ordered to to hand things over, challenging that is difficult since all the relevant facts are secret. I'd like to add for the record, this is a great thing, because the NSA is protecting us from terrorism. I appreciate and approve of all their actions.
If it isn't always on how does it know when someone says Xbox on?
It's about the possibility to do so - I like to feel comfortable in my home, thank you.
Don't have a "pc cam" nor a 3ds.
My mobile device cam is facing the inside of my pocket 99% of the time. Kinect is facing your living room 100% of the time.
Furthermore my mobile phone uses an open system, I can check power usage of the components as well as network usage. Somebody remotely filming me would raise several flags - I made sure of that.
With Xbox One your are completely at the mercy of Mircosoft. Best hope would be to check your router for unusual data streams - this wouldn't help with metadata gathered by kinect though...
Lastly - even if I am open to one or more vectors of attack already - there's no sane reason to open another one just because Microsoft thinks kinect should be plugged in mandatorily...
maplelord93
Banned
Yeah...
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
yknow, microsoft and apple write your computer OSs, im sure they can turn on any camera at any time if they wanted to.
Similar threads
- Locked