{{
`${userDetail.user.displayName}${userDetail.user.cachedBungieGlobalDisplayNameCode ? `#${standardizeBungieGlobalCode(userDetail.user.cachedBungieGlobalDisplayNameCode)}` : ""}`}}
{{getUserClans()}}
5/27/2013 12:55:18 PM
78
Federal Data Protection Commissioner: Xbox ONE is a monitoring device
[quote]Here at TweakTown, we're bringing you every latest bit of information on the next-gen consoles, as that is going to be the war of all wars for technology in the coming years. We've seen the Xbox One unveiling event, written an article asking just what was Microsoft thinking, and had a massive article reporting that EA's Vice President said that the PS4 and Xbox One are a generation ahead of the fastest gaming PC on the planet.
What can trump all of this? The German government coming out and stating that the Xbox One is a monitoring device. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner for Berlin, Peter Schaar, has said "Under the heading, game device 'Microsoft pushes a monitoring device in the market. The Xbox continuously records all sorts of personal information about me. Reaction rates, my learning or emotional states. The are then processed on an external server, and possibly even passed on to third parties. Whether they will ever deleted, the person can not influence".
This isn't far fetched, as the Xbox One has a camera built-in and is built to capture and recognize the face of its users. Microsoft are pushing the Xbox One as an all-in-one entertainment system, that can be voice and gesture controlled. Consider the fact that the Xbox One can be turned on by a voice command, meaning that the microphone on the Xbox One is always listening, always waiting.[/quote][url=http://www.tweaktown.com/news/30610/german-government-says-the-xbox-one-is-a-monitoring-device/index.html]Source[/url]
Pretty damning stuff considering it's coming from a government official. There are also rumours it is able to do more questionable things than what Microsoft announced. [url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/xbox-one-can-talk-report-6408871]For instance[/url]:[quote]The source claimed that the Xbox One's integrated Kinect camera is capable of scanning a room and using its facial recognition software to detect foreign users. If Kinect detects someone it does not recognize, it then audibly asks this person to identify themselves. Once this is done, the Kinect saves the information to the console, according to the report.[/quote]
-
2 RepliesFirst off, no one's forcing you to buy the Xbox One. Therefore, if it's not mandatory for all people, a government only has "access" (quote unquote) to the information of gamers. Admittedly, the console can be used for (much) more than gaming, but in the end, the owners will be predominately gamers. If that's the case, then I don't see what use the government has with this information. Secondly, who's saying that Microsoft is going to sign the information off to a government? I ask that rhetorically. Not only is this conspiratorial speculation, but it's also assuming that the government is willing to make a large bargain for hardly-worthwhile information. I'm a pretty conservative guy that enjoys his privacy. I don't believe that the government ever has the right to impose on you without reason. That statement is ambiguous enough to be twisted, but most people get the idea: The government is going to have to break some pretty significant laws (e.g. Fourth Amendment) to even have access to this information. If the government ended up having access to Xbox One data (and can exploit it), then I can assure you that we're probably down a pretty irreversible path.
