Kinect Is Spying on You

A reader at Lazygamer has actually read the new terms and conditions for the Xbox 360.. and it's pretty scary

"Do you ever read the terms of service agreements that come with software, hardware and firmware updates? I know I don’t. I’m all too happy to scroll on to the end and click “yes.” One astute reader, liberty, took the time to read through the updated Xbox Live terms of service included with yesterday’s Xbox system update – and uncovered some pretty scary stuff.

Remember how we, via Microsoft’s Phil Spencer, assured you that Kinect wasn’t spying on you? It seems that might not be entirely factual; According to the terms of service, they can – and will use Kinect to monitor players."

[granthinds]

Man, how on earth can people think this is real?! FIRSTLY, it'll take up valuable processing power from the console and SECONDLY waste band width! And if you'er capped, you'll be SO aware that you're PAYING for it!!!

[Ognipode]

You obviously don't know Microsoft, I don't put anything past companies like them and Apple these days

[granthinds]

What?! They can't AFFORD to jeopardize their PR with such a ridiculous stunt!

[nix]

i always unplug the PS3 camera.. you know just in case... i find that blue light very scary. lol. q:

@zootang: lol... i was about to do some 'activity' and then suddenly realized the camera 'looking' at me... since then i've been unplugging it. q:

EDIT 2: i wonder who disagreed with me... you can ask Sony, i swear.

[John-117]

Why would MS spy on what ever I am doing wtf? lmao

[zootang]

@Nix

LMAO, So do I.

[KratosGIRL]

LMFAO bunch of sissys

Web cam sex is the future !!

[iMaddy]

Any goverment can "hear" every users cell phone talking by law desision..

xbox live is the same...stardart term of servise...goverment is all above any company.

all this news is just anti MS pr company...people don't like when MS have success.

[Nitrowolf2]

HOLY F I DO THE SAME

I mean i am eating in my room, or playing a game that doesn't use the cam and i see it on and i'm like "Maybe they are watching me" idk who "They" are but still. lol

anything with a camera, even my computer i usually block them just in case

lol

[DemiT]

Cameras, computers, insanity?

http://gamerdb8.com/wp-cont...

[Theonik]

@Nix, i do too. That blue light scares the sh*t out of me.

[inveni0]

This basically says that they can use illegal activity against you. For instance, if you're flashing testicles to underage boys--they'll use it against you. If you're harassing the one girl on your friends list--they'll use it against you. If the courts subpoena their records of your chats because you're using Kinect chat to organize a terrorist plot--they'll comply.

They're basically just letting you know that they aren't going to fight for your privacy if under legal pressure to let it all hang out.

[edgeofblade]

Wait a second... this is par for the course already. MS can already monitor your voice communication with a headset, and with the update, the kinect mics can replace the headset...

@inveni0: Since you put it that way, they could have been under pressure from Homeland Security do include this for their purposes.

[inveni0]

I agree. And it's perfectly legal because you're agreeing to it. It's the next best thing to wiretapping!

[nycredude]

Invinio

What if I like to game naked or in my boxer shorts? Can I get in trouble for being naked in my own home?

[DMason]

All companies have to comply with this law. If MS is contacted by the government/police, the police have the right to monitor you.

It's not like Kinect is recording you at all times. Now if you're a child molester soliciting children on XBLA, then you have something to worry about.

[MONOLITHICIDE]

John-117 + 8h ago "Why would MS spy on what ever I am doing wtf? lmao"

-And this is exactly what Big Brother wants you to think like, so they can sneak these kinds of things into our homes. They already have vans that drive down neighborhood streets that can xray into your home, and they say its to find terrorists. Now thats funny any excuse to take away our freedom and usher in their world dictatorship.

I guess you tell yourself anything to help you sleep at night kid, huh?

[AAACE5]

LMAO>>>You gotta include Sony into that as well since the Eyetoy is a camera. And keep in mind, the Japanese are well known freaks who like to spy... especially on little girls! They even buy used underwear from a vending machine!

I always thought it was suspect to have a camera plugged in that can be monitored at anytime. But it's just like our cellphones, we could be getting spied on at anytime. For those who don't know, as long as you have the battery in your phone, the government can listen in on you at anytime. I keep my sh*tty blackberry in it's sleeve for that reason to block the microphone.

Always disconnect the camera when not in use, or at least turn the camera away.

[PopEmUp]

webcam sex is the future hahahaa

[DirtyLary]

black orifice 2010 console version.

[AuToFiRE]

people still use BO?

[Dr-ZOOM]

BOOOO!!!

You see what I did there?

[Darkfocus]

whats black orifice?? never mind I probably don't wanna know...

[Raf1k1]

If that's what the terms actually state and you agree to it then they can legally go ahead with it.

[gamingdroid]

Everything in the ToS is vanilla, meaning you can go read Sony's and it will contain the exact same things in different words.

The only difference maybe is this:

“You should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features (for example, voice chat, video and communications in live-hosted gameplay sessions) offered through the Service.”

They are specifically referring to "live-hosted gameplay sessions". I think that is fair, as you are already in a public game match.

With that said, if there is one company that "seems" to respect your privacy it is MS. If you look through their history and their policies compared to let say Google or Sony with their root kit that actually made your computer vulnerable to breaches!

Either way, I wouldn't walk around naked in front of Kinect!

[Anon1974]

Microsoft needs to be able to police their services. Some might not like this, but it just makes sense. Of course they need the ability to keep an eye on what users are doing on their network. Sony's no different.

[Scotland-The-Brave]

O look, gamingdroid turns this article about Microsoft into something bad about sony. Surprise surprise!

[gamingdroid]

I talk about Google as well, but somehow you only cared about Sony!

It's kind of hard to compare the console makers when there are only three and one of them practically don't have an online presence.

[AuToFiRE]

"cant afford it" we all know microsoft and apple are crooks, yet we continue to use their products, M$ has you by the left nut, Apple by the right, it doesnt matter what they do, all it will end up is in a fine of a couple million dollars, chump change to massive corporations like them, they will simply make back that money in a matter of hours

[DelbertGrady]

I stopped buying Sony products after the rootkit scandal. /s

[edgeofblade]

@DelbertGrady: And I started avoiding Sony movies after the David Manning incident.

[JokesOnYou]

It's standard legal terms for just about anything that deals with "video capture" online.

-I don't know if some of you know this but yesterday when I did the 360 fall update there was settings for kinect allowing you to opt out and assign limits on what you want others to see when online, you can either set it so that everyone can see you, just friends or block everyone.

-I guess he wouldn't understand alot of products have similiar legal warnings since he admits like most of us we never read the TOS agreements, you want to read some really scary stuff try reading the TOS agreement when you get a new cell phone. lmfao, "The government is listening"

[INehalemEXI]

this reminds me of the ECHELON system http://whatreallyhappened.c...

to intercept all data.

It's illegal for the United States to spy on it's citizens. Likewise the same for Great Britain. But under the terms of the UKUSA agreement, Britain spies on Americans and America spies on British citizens and the two groups trade data.

[FragMnTagM]

It is NOT illegal anymore for the United States to spy on it's citizens. If you are scared about the TOS for the new update, then you should stop using cell phones, chat rooms, well the internet altogether for that matter, especially Facebook.

Not too much anyone can do about it, except you know, take over the government.

[INehalemEXI]

There are legal limitations in the PA this is an intercept of all data and they answer to no one.

All I said is.... it reminds me of this system. I don't give a damn if the governments spying on meh if they want to watch me drop a duece more power to em.

[Killed4Less]

FragMnTagM just be quiet.. You are talking out your ass about the Patriot Act. There is absolutely wiretapping and monitor laws in place. If MS was to turn even 1 camera on and view into a person's living room they are breaking federal law here in the USA period.

A school district just recently gave laptops to students and one of the camera's was activated to spy on a student. They are in serious financial and legal troubles now.

This camera is no different then the millions of web cams and cell phone cameras in the world. MS cannot and will not actively spy on you in your home because the legal ramifications would be enormous.

[Ragz017]

aliens can monitor the human race this way easily.. :)

[WharenPeace]

Since I generally game in my underwear, I always unplug the PS Eye. The same would hold true for if I owned Kinect.

[frostypants]

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Everything you do on the internet can be tracked. It's not just Kinect.

And it's not like they have some giant TV room like in Matrix Reloaded where Bill Gates is sitting back and watching every move of every gamer. Though the thought of that is amusing.

EDIT: I guarantee you that you agreed to similar TOS with your ISP

[baker_boi]

For the same reason phone companies tape your phones and record your conversations in a database.

That was unfortunately legalized through the patriot act.

Stop being dumb kids. This is America. They've been spying and tapping people's lines since the 1920's.

It doesn't take much to do this, there are loads of tutorials how to high jack cameras, and secure lines all over youtube.

[alien626]

no wonder kinect lags lol

[darx]

Is this you?

[JoeReno]

Lol.. You beat me to it.

Starwackers ftw!

[visualb]

=O

[123360]

its there to keep an eye out for the perverts i suspect,there will be alot of kids using this so they may wan,t to check out any conversations if they get a complaint.sad but the 360 has had a lot of bad press over this issue so a bit of extra saftey is not a bad thing

[Domer25]

Now that makes sense. Forgot about the pervs.

[Qui-Gon Jim]

The wording is just there to give them the right to use your communications if they need to. For example, if you are accused of exposing yourself to children via video chat, then Microsoft can call up your video chats and hand them over to police.

I can pretty much guarantee that PSN service agreements say the same thing.

[TrevorPhillips]

Illuminati - the all seeing eye

[Terarmzar]

Big Brother is watching!

[tacosRcool]

And Governor Ventura is also!

[Nihilism]

lol, careful dude, I think the Zionists are great in number on these forums, you will note by the prominent brand loyalty and monopolistic sympathizing that their mindset is at the very least pervasive. We won't see it's effect until the end game...

P.S Gaza is Palestinian land :D, I look forward to the day when war crime sanctions are rightfully issued against Israel.

[ozhuerta]

Amen man.

[killzowner]

literally the nerdiest thing said on n4g - a gaming website. You should win something for that Nihilism

[MrChow666]

well said dude

[Dnied]

I was going through the settings in the new update last night and noticed there was an option in the security settings where you could enable/disable MS monitoring the voice conversations. The tooltip stated that they wanted to monitor so they can get ideas for voice commands and updates etc haha

It was something like that anyway... makes you wonder though.

[Blaze929]

that's normal with any voice programs/hardware though. They need to collect the tone, pronunciation, and communications of every possible person they can get so that in the end, the program/device picks up many different kinds of dialect a lot better. Might have people who talk very country or with accents, that's what it's for.

common sense don't you think? They don't really want to hear about what you did last night - but 'how' you're talking so that Kinect can pick up more voices/people.

[SolidSystem]

they want to make sure I dont talk down to Milo or try anything funny with him.

[alb1899]

how far will you go!

Really!?

[Nihilism]

I'm not defending Kinect in any way...but has anyone read ANY EULA?

They are INSANE. I doubt less than 10% would hold up in court.

[ct03]

It's funny how on N4G you need to state in the first sentence that you don't defend Kinect, in order to prevent 140 rabid disagrees.

[Wikkid666]

Do you have any idea how much money and resources something like that would take? Do you really think that there is anything worth it for them? Do they really want to see me in my underoos that bad?

[Trunkz Jr]

It's probably so they can find Pedobears asking kids that they'll give them money to take off their clothes or something - so they if they monitor a chat like that, they have the right to check out your kinect to see if the dirty deed is taking place.

I'm sure those types of extreme cases are the only kinds at which they would look at your kinect, their not just gonna pick someone at random and watch them eating potato chips or making out with their GF.

[BabyTownFrolics]

am i late?

[Smootherkuzz]

We are all being watched in just about everything we do,say and go anyway, it's the sign of the times. I remember being told this was going to happen when I was in school and at that time no one give a crap about it because at that time it didn't mean diddly to us.If used correctly it can be a good thing but we all know now that for every good there is a bad so all we can do is be careful and do the right thing and remember the old "I didn't know" do not fly anymore.

[Shazz]

i always pull out ps eye when im having a niffty one lmao just incase lol jk

[Stevo91]

Dont buy it

[knifefight]

Why anyone would want to see my balls is a mystery to me.

[skyblue14213]

I don't own any microsoft console related thing so I do not have to worry about it. And if anyone that does have one that does not want to be spied on simply disconnect it, or better yet don't buy it. Although you should not have to resort to that which is sad.

[FragMnTagM]

these terms are for nearly every thing you do. Stop using the internet if you are scared of the new TOS for the XBOX. When will kids learn?

Bet you don't even know what the Patriot Act is.

[skyblue14213]

I do know what the patriot act is btw and it is just another step closer to making this country a prison for us americans all in the name of terrorism, in which to me is the exact opposite of the term "patriot". When did I claim that I was scared? The difference is I don't have a camera hooked up to my computer, nor do I have a camera built into my computer so your point(s) concerning me is useless and irrelevant. Use your mind before running your mouth for future reference.