Kinect and Privacy: any concerns?

[garak0410]

Finally getting an XBOX One with Kinect. My wife has always had concerns about the privacy of it listening when off. Seems like a lot of that chatter has stopped. So, speaking to XB1 owners with Kinect, you feel safe and no worries with yours?

 

[ncxcstud]

I've had no concerns at all. None. But, I didn't fear it from the beginning... There are 'silly' 3rd party addons you can get that block its camera. Or at least just taping a piece of paper to the front could solve it too...

 

[jlzimmerman]

I'm not worried either for a few reasons but I'll give just one very big reason, in my opinion, why it wouldn't happen. MS is still battling it's 90's/00's reputation. They are not a "cool" corporation. Imagine if a watch dog group (and there are groups who are still looking into this) or hacker proved that MS was data mining Kinect voice or visual data without consent? The news and tech sites would beat MS over the head. Attorneys would be licking their chops. And with the hair-trigger sentiment of NSA spying as of late, I think the federal government would use the example to rake MS over the coals as much as possible to help reinstall public faith. And if they were that stupid and there was a class-action suit I would sure as hell jump on it......But I'm not worried. I think (and hope) MS is doing the right thing and turning its reputation around as a good company.

With that said, my wife hates it too. It doesn't help that she is pretty much anti-tech and anti-nerdom. She rolls her eyes when I walk by and the box displays "Hi! Jason" when I come into the room. She would rather slide down a banister of razor blades than speak voice commands. And yes she is worried about privacy. So far I am winning the battle but in another week or two I may find tape over the camera eye or the Kinect unplugged altogether : /

 

[Ruined]

If you post on Facebook then you should laugh at the Kinect privacy concerns . I wouldn't worry about it MS has been explicit about what it listens for.

 

[Coreldan]

If you are worried about Kinect spying, then worry about your phone spying, your laptops and tablets spying, PCs too if you have microphones/webcams attached.

I don't see how Kinect would really be any different. If the government wants to spy on you, they dont need to Kinect for that

At least if someone was watching the video footage through Kinect, you would be able to see/feel a spike in your bandwidth usage. Especially for me when my upload bandwidth is so low, I would definitely notice it if suddenly/all the time my whole upload bandwidth would be capped

 

[coip]

I'd be way more worried about my GPS-tracking, dual camera, always online smart phone than a stationary device in my living room. All that "Kinect is spying" nonsense is absurd. If you're worried about it, unplug it when you're not using it. Personally, I could not imagine owning any console without a Kinect now. It's that good.

I recommend the following games: Fantasia, D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, Dance Central Spotlight, Kinect Sports Rivals, and Xbox Fitness. All make great use of Kinect.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I'll continue to say that:

1. The Kinect's not a big deal for gaming. Unless you want one of the niche-genre games that runs it exclusively, the Kinect's not meaningful. It's certainly a nice convenience at times, but I'd gladly trade my Kinect for an extra 2 games (given the $100 premium).
2. Kinect Sports Rivals did nothing but show off bad tracking a failure to deliver on promises with the new Kinect. It still requires a lot of room (both in ceiling height and room width) to play. The Target Shooting was highly inconsistent and inaccurate. The Rock Climbing got confused with which arm was which frequently. The Bowling was OK, but you had to make an unrealistic, hip-level motion to get it to track correctly. Wave Racing worked fine, but was overall boring (mostly due to lack of venues). Soccer failed at tracking kicks--and, more frequently, headers--with any consistency. It needed a LOOOOT of lateral room to be playable, because it asked for about 10-12 feet to fully cover the goal. Tennis was OK, but almost too forgiving. What's worse is that they didn't include the sports you'd expect the game to be made for--baseball and golf. It ended up being a game I enjoyed at first, eventually sold, then started to realize more of my memories were of the frustrations with the game than with the entertainment.

As for privacy concerns, I'd call them semi-legitimate, but mostly overblown. You can always unplug the device when not using it, if it worries you. However, those who say that there's no chance for privacy violations are way too trusting of the nefarious members of the population, even if it's an unlikely occurrence. However, I'll agree that a phone is a bigger concern for privacy than a Kinect. It can track your physical location, while having facial recognition and sound-recording capabilities folks would worry about with the Kinect.

 

[onysi]

if I had Kinect, I wouldn't mind NSA watch me while I fap in my bed.

 

[Coreldan]

I'll continue to say that:

1. The Kinect's not a big deal for gaming. Unless you want one of the niche-genre games that runs it exclusively, the Kinect's not meaningful. It's certainly a nice convenience at times, but I'd gladly trade my Kinect for an extra 2 games (given the $100 premium).

Just to show the other side of the coin, I wouldn't consider trading my Kinect for 2 games, not even close. While we have a few "Kinect exclusive games" that we've enjoyed, it's far more than just a game controller for us. It's all that convenience of voice commands, Skyping in our living room with a great wide angle camera so that it's easy to skype with our parents/relatives with our kid (good luck cramping 3 people in front of a laptop webcam ), login based on who is in the room. etc.

But yeah, I do have to agree that I bought my Xbox One when all you could get was a Kinect bundle. It didnt bother me at all, as I was quite interested in the Kinect. While I would definitely get a new Kinect if this one broke, I do have to say that the incentive to get a Kinect-bundle is lower now that they started selling them without Kinects, simply cos it once again becomes the accessory for minorities that most developers won't really bother with, simply cos it won't have the marketshare. It's also a shame that only a few games have been made properly for the Kinect even out of Kinect games, even the in-house game like Kinect Sports seems to suck. Then there are games (like D4, Fantasia for example) that show how it should be done. But it's not the hardware that is lacking.

I could maybe trade my Kinect for 4 brand new physical games... so that when Ive played em through I could sell the games and buy a new Kinect!

 

[Keith Wallace]

Oh, I agree. If you like the other features, it's a great add-on. However, from a purely gaming standpoint, most would be fine to live without it. I did find myself missing it a little when I got to my sisters, and almost tried to turn the console on with my voice. I also found myself not liking the inability to navigate the clunky UI with the Kinect. I also had to explain things to my friend over Party Chat last night, involving navigation without the Kinect (he doesn't have one), and while that wasn't too bad (just wanted to know how to access the Party app and force a game to close), it was a bit revealing to hear myself walk him through the controller method of a 3-word Kinect command.

 

[ncxcstud]

From a gaming standpoint - it is much easier to live without now that the controller can do a lot of the same stuff that the Kinect can in regards to snapping apps and recording gameplay. It still isn't as easy or quick as just shouting it out... but it is at least an alternative.

 

[berty6294]

I love that my Kinect watches me sleep, and yes that sounds weird but there's a very good reason. When I'm watching Netflix or a movie or really any kind of video at night, I usually fall asleep. What I love is that Kinect will notice that there is no motion in my bedroom (because I'm sleeping) and will shut down my Xbox. My TV sees that input has stopped so it too shuts down. It works beautifully and I use it every night. With other devices, like my PC or my Surface connected to the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter will stay on all night at a static screen and can potentially cause burn in.

So yeah, a long odd answer of one of the small things I love about my Kinect always watching.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Sleep mode, dude.

 

[berty6294]

Sleep mode, dude.

I can't predict when I fall asleep if I even fall asleep cause of my sleeping disorder. Plus I HATE when I set the sleep timer too low and then have to turn everything back on and find the spot where I left off, its hassle.

But thanks for the input, dude.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I just set mine when I know I'm getting tired, and set it high enough to give me time to fall asleep, while also not getting so much time it can risk burn-in. I usually set mine at 2 hours, though I think it goes up to 4. If I realize I'm not going to fall asleep in-time, I just turn it back up or cancel it, then re-enable it when I'm tired again.

 

[wpfan2be]

While we have a few "Kinect exclusive games" that we've enjoyed

Can you suggest a few? Having a hard time finding games that really make full use of Kinect. Seems like you might know a few...

Thanks!

 

[coip]

Can you suggest a few? Having a hard time finding games that really make full use of Kinect. Seems like you might know a few.

All of the following are full Kinect games that I've personally vetted and liked.
Must-buy: Fantasia (there's a free demo), Dance Central Spotlight (it's only $10), D4 - Dark Dreams Don't Die (it's only $15)
Should-buy: Kinect Sports Rivals (try the free demo first), Xbox Fitness (lots of free workouts for Gold members).

All of the following are full Kinect games that I haven't played but have heard good things about, so you may want to check them out:
Shape Up, Just Dance 2015, Just Dance 2014

 

[Maritox Cacici]

Just dance 2014 its excellent

 

[berty6294]

See I love Kinect without even using it for its primary purpose. This thread is actually inspiring me to clean up my room and adjust my Kinect placement so I can play some of these games!

 

[bilzkh]

The Kinect might have been a serious security issue in the days people got together in living rooms to discuss politics... Or the days when the only way to know of a person's political views would be to drop in on their kitchen conversations. Those days are long gone. You can get a lot more information (on that front) by following a person on Facebook and Twitter.