Xbox One Microsoft addresses Xbox One Kinect privacy concerns

[Damnlag]

Xbox One and Kinect offer easy and approachable ways to control your games and entertainment with your voice and gestures. By recognizing you, Xbox One can tailor personal experiences and customize content just for you.

At Microsoft, we prioritize your privacy. We understand that your personal data and privacy are important. Xbox One and Kinect will provide tools to put you in control of your data. These include:

• You are in control of what Kinect can see and hear: By design, you will determine how responsive and personalized your Xbox One is to you and your family during setup. The system will navigate you through key privacy options, like automatic or manual sign in, privacy settings, and clear notifications about how data is used. When Xbox One is on and you’re simply having a conversation in your living room, your conversation is not being recorded or uploaded.
  
• You are in control of when Kinect sensing is On, Off or Paused: If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect. To turn off your Xbox One, just say “Xbox Off.” When the system is off, it’s only listening for the single voice command -- “Xbox On,” and you can even turn that feature off too. Some apps and games may require Kinect functionality to operate, so you’ll need to turn it back on for these experiences.
  
• You are in control of your personal data: You can play games or enjoy applications that use data, such as videos, photos, facial expressions, heart rate and more, but this data will not leave your Xbox One without your explicit permission. Here are a few examples of potential future scenarios:
  • A fitness game could measure heart rate data to provide you with improved feedback on your workout, allow you to track your progress, or even measure calories burned.
  • A card game could allow you to bluff your virtual opponent using your facial expressions.
• You can use other inputs to control your games, TV and entertainment experiences: While it’s faster to find what you’re looking for using your voice and gesture commands with Kinect, you can use a controller, your remote controls or your smart devices instead. And you can use all of these devices when Kinect is paused.

Microsoft will have more information available later this year.

Source [Xbox.com]

 

[BlackSolaris]

I think all of this information is all damage control, with a lot of it not explain several points, but whatever, i am pretty sure this will be a bigger fiasco than all that ET game that was so horrible they buried the copies.

 

[cliverederson]

Haha, BlackSolaris you are so negative about this Xbox. I do think they are trying to do a little damage control, but they want people to understand what the real deal is. I think it's good they're giving us these privacy controls. You can pick and choose want you want to use if you don't trust it being always on, I have no problem with this aspect of the Xbox One.

 

[ozadin]

I really don't know why people are having concerns about privacy. It's like saying that everything you say online, your phone, or even to your friend is being monitored and sent to the NSA or authorities. Microsoft has made some dumb decisions in the past but they wouldn't do something like this.

 

[CaptainWoodzy]

My primary concerns are the awful DRM issues they have going on. If Sony confirms that they aren't having any of the same practices or requiring internet connections, it spells very bad news for Microsoft at this point. I'll stay optimistic though.

 

[Chunkaroonie]

Only the incessantly worried and paranoid would actually have issues about this imo. Imagine the scandal/damages Microsoft would have to deal with if people could see through the Kinect's camera... I'm confident Microsoft will do everything in its power to secure privacy.