New Xbox Won�t Let You Play (Unless It Can Spy On You)

No thanks

According to leaked screen captures, the new console, codenamed �Durango,� will be �Always On, Always Connected,� meaning it will require a perpetual Internet connection, in addition to a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor, �which will be required for the system to operate,� representing a huge win for Big Brother in infiltrating homes across the across the world under the guise of trendiness.

Being touted as a measure to ensure �software and games are always current,� the new Xbox will not allow users to play games unless a permanent Internet connection is established, according to leaked screenshots obtained by the website

http://www.infowars.com/new-xbox-wont-let-you-play-u...

We are PlayStation Universe. We make a point to be the #1 independent site for PlayStation news, reviews, previews, and features on the Web. And yet, sometimes, other console camps make moves so egregious, so head-scratchingly crazy, that we simply must report on it. After all, the success and failure of Sony's competition affects PlayStation (and PlayStation gamers) a great deal. So, here goes.

Microsoft has filed a patent to allow Xbox Kinect to spy on you in your home, record the number of human users consuming content like games and movies, and charge additional license fees for exceeding the appropriate number of users.

If that sounds like some scary, Big Brother-type s**t, it's because it most definitely is. As ExtremeTech describes, "The patent�s various claims can endow a device with a limited number of performances in a given period of time, a limited number of users allowed to view such performances, and the continuous monitoring of viewers during those performances."

Effectively, your family and friends could become slaves to a system already in place for things like pay-per-view events at bars and restaurants. In many cases, your favorite pub pays for this coverage by the seat. It's the same idea here--to protect the interests of the MPAA, RIAA, and possibly even Microsoft itself, you could be charged for having too many people watching that movie you downloaded or your new favorite Xbox game.

Meanwhile, no such intent seems to exist for the PlayStation Camera, which will debut with PlayStation 4 later this year. We know that the PS Camera will feature dual 1080p stereoscopic lenses for better depth tracking and facial recognition, but no mention has been made of any application to copyright protection. Sony isn't stingy in this area, either. PS3 gamers have long been able to download content on multiple systems (though PS Vita's closed nature represents a move in the other direction).

Your voice matters, so sound off with your thoughts on Microsoft's sneaky patent--and how Sony should respond--in the comments below.

Alright, back to the news (and console) you care about.

http://www.psu.com/a018632/Not-convinced-about-PS4-A...

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Mar-13 22:13:57)

Asides from the always on connection requirement that basically means MS are going to require users to install games (maybe with cd key) which is no surprise really [killing secondhand market and tackling games counterfeiting], the requirement for Kinect seems like bs/hype, scaremongering to me (well, at least till I've read the rest of the article or some new more official statement comes out). Can't see any reason at all why users would need to have an active camera watching and listening in all the time just to play games.

Considering all the news about 'big data' gathering exercises and how much they mean to marketing companies I can see why people are concerned about potential plans for Kinect and Move. But I imagine it's just a media frenzy trying to capitalise on driving up hysteria for the advertising clicks to their sites. Funny how things feed themselves. I doubt there's anything to be concerned about really. I'd bung up the microphones with blu tack and put tape on any cameras just to be sure - job done.

Edit: posted whilst you were busy editing yourself: yeah, second quote is disturbing for sure but it's all academic until MS or Sony, or whoever actually implement something. I seriously doubt they'd get away with that kind of plan and having such intrusive cameras in private homes would definitely induce a response from the legislature even if kicked off by class action lawsuits.

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Mar-13 22:20:03)

I definitely won't be buying the new xbox and if sony do the same they can stick the ps4 where the sun don't shine

Well, if this scenario came about I would not buy any more technology either. But there's a lot of paranoia going on in the world around technology and data gathering so I think it's best to wait and see before worrying about it.

I use an Android phone and I've been all right about using Chrome etc till recently but the more you find out about Google the less I wanna know. The ability to abuse customer privacy is gigantic with the tech we have available in our phones these days. It's definitely not going to be easy curtailing what these massive companies do with our data and I don't think governments first thoughts lie with protecting the consumer and promoting democracy for everyone either.

How do you regulate tech and trust companies to use these powerful tools responsibly? Well, I guess owning a PC will be more of a protest option than ever in future perhaps, especially if it's running Linux!

I have google blocked on my laptop and DoNotTrack+ running
I use startpage instead of google
I'll go back to PC gaming if sony follow MS

Our governments definitely aren't looking out for us

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Mar-13 23:10:41)

In reply to a post by Lt_Swan:

I definitely won't be buying the new xbox and if sony do the same they can stick the ps4 where the sun don't shine

I doubt you be saying that if Battlefield 4 was only on the next generation consoles

Food For Thought

If this turns out to be true and the next gen. consoles begin to monitor users in their own home in this fashion as the patient describes,
It will definitely be a massive invasion of consumer privacy.

IMHO it will be a huge step in the wrong direction followed by a big question mark around trust issues for the company's involved and towards their respective brands.

For those of us who can see how dangerous it is for private industry be allowed to be let loose with their surreptitious surveillance techniques along with the ability to monitor us in even more greater (Hi-Fi, Super-Depth VHQ, Pixel-perfect, butt-kicking, Tera-flop, Digital, madness..) detail then this path of thinking will have the potential to become its a very slippery slope towards an even greater degree of the Big brother world we are all being forced towards.

In reply to a post by SPOOKish:

but it's all academic until MS or Sony, or whoever actually implement something. I seriously doubt they'd get away with that kind of plan and having such intrusive cameras in private homes

This may sound cynical (This whole post is a bit cynical ) but I think that comments like "it's all academic" or "they wont get away with it" is exactly what corporations, especially those with private interests want us all to believe.

You mentioned the exact word (above) "..Plan.." this is exactly what they do. Big players such as these have some of the smartest people on the planet working away in R&D labs, crunching away on their enormous "big-data" stores harvested from PSN, XBOX Live and the ilk.
They know what they can (and can't) get away with. They have have had enough time to study, quantify, validate us and our habits. They have all the data they need to figure out how we "Tick" They have the demographic information, Psychological profiles for their customers. They have the intellect and know-how to devise such devices, plus all the big budget funding to match.
The most frightening aspect for myself, personally, is that these to big to fail corporations have all audacity in the world to make this kind of stuff a reality and have the ability to carry things even further forward.

so they

In reply to a post by SPOOKish:

would definitely induce a response from the legislature even if kicked off by class action lawsuits.

You would be surprised how powerful some lobbing groups are and how much influence they have over policy makers. (look at the Music / Movie / Food / Pharmaceutical industry's as examples)

As history has proven itself time-and-time again, its these kinds of bold corporate moves which are the exact things we all end up with and is what they end up continuously getting away with.
Slowly and methodically they get a small foothold into such things and their twisted ideas slowly become a reality.

One case and point that springs to mind:
Wasn't this the kind of thinking around the time when government first started taking about a national CCTV system back in the 90's.
"One camera on every street corner"

It was said back then "Oh, its just talk.. it will never happen, blah, blah, blah.." and stuff like "The general public will never stand for it..." But look what happened in that instance.

In the UK alone there is now 2.805 cameras per 100 population !
Total CCTV cameras in UK = 1.85 million.
Source: CCTV User Group - March 2011

Now with the proliferation of CCTV cameras in public places ANY notion of true privacy for the average Joe Blogs in the street has almost completely gone. The sheer number of CCTV cameras has led to some unease about the erosion of civil liberties and individual human rights, along with warnings of an Orwellian 'big brother' culture. This is not something that can just "go away", Things are going to keep on getting worse with respect to our civil liberty's and human rights coming under attack from yet another direction and especially in such 'charged' times such as these where we now live in a climate of Fear and uncertainty.

- One could argue that in this climate of fear and uncertainty CCTV systems are a good thing. maybe? But where does it all stop, where should the line be drawn that finally says no more. do we really need a nanny-cam system embedded in our next gen. Console and pay top buck for the privilege.

Will users accept this type of intrusion into their daily lives?
Probably, Yes they will.

For the vast majority of people living in the "modern age" common sense and reason has been replaced with the sounds of shopping tills ringing out with those same people chanting the 'consumers mantra'

"Go shopping, la la-la Buy more stuff.. la la-la la Don't think too much... (about anything..) la-la Just go buy more stuff.."

When it comes to trying to keep up with the Jones which I suspect will be the case for many, with the notion of prestige which will come along with owning a shiny new PS4/XBOX Durango console will most probably out weigh any kinds of thoughts about potential subvert surveillance issues involved in owning one. This will be true for most as they do not fully comprehend the implications of how such technologies can/will be manipulated and exploited by these corporations if given half a chance.

Sometimes the "Nag Factor" overcomes logic and reason and this is what "smart" businesses have learned how to exploit this phenomena.

One final point which is kind of also related and something which I believe poses an even greater question:
How much of your (and my) data is already being Tracked, Tagged, archived, logged and sourced off us, every single moment we use our devices online (and offline) be it; browsing the web, searching the web, Social networking, checking mail, online gaming, streaming a film, Downloading and App or Music, Skype chats.
- I wonder what happens with all that data, who gets to say how it is used? Who makes sure our requests are enforced on how our data is used? Who monitors those people who are supposed to be monitoring them? Is it even possible for authorities to properly regulate it?

I wonder what will happen with all our Bio-metric data once XBOX Durango console has captured it all

As I said, regarding next gen consoles, it is all academic until they are launched and we get to see what they've got and how it'll be used.

In reply to a post by majika2007:

- I wonder what happens with all that data, who gets to say how it is used?

Who cares? All what data anyhow? Are we really that interesting that people want to spend time spying on us all day? I don't think so. Unless you're going to prance around naked, doing naughty things or whatever in front of a webcam/kinect/move camera that's recording stuff to the net then, I'd suggest you relax.

Yeah, marketing companies love big data. I wouldn't take it too personally myself. Like Lt Swanster, I minimise my browser's ability to track me with plugins like Ghostery and Adblock and routinely clear/block cookies though I confess to having gotten lazy regarding Chrome on my mobile devices. That's something I'm remedying as I just don't like Google's apparent arrogance in dealing with matters of privacy, there are just too many examples of them breaking privacy laws. BUT, so what? They might have built a profile of my browsing and shopping habits. Big deal. They can work out my gender, nerdiness, sexual orientation, age, likely educational/intelligence level if they want but it isn't all of me. I don't share everything on the net and I don't take things seriously enough to really fret or care. Screw 'em, I say.

If you don't fancy having MS or Sony take pictures of you whilst you masturbate then don't buy a new console when they arrive. Or just wait and see. All this talk about the new consoles is spurious and pointless until the proof is on the table. And then, you have a choice. Just don't buy it. I know I won't. Unless BF4 is an Xbox exclusive or something like Timey says. Right grandpa?

That last paragraph has me worried as i do a lot of that

If Microsoft goes down this rumour route of always on and focussing on Kinect that no serious gamer is interested in then they have just shot themselves in the foot and will go the way of Sega and there console will not survive.

Nintendo have bought a so called next generation console [gimmick to the table] which has as much clout as what we have already in a Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

They are now in talks with retailers in Europe about what they can do to Bump sales as its sales stats are very poor and nobody wants one.

Nintendo should be thankful they will have had a years head start because the minute Sony and Microsoft arrive they are very much doomed to 3rd place this time around and this will not become another Nintendo Wii seller and i see Nintendo developing a new console to compete in the next 18 months.

This was a stupid move by Nintendo,not only is it extremely under powered there is no software worth buying for it.

Mario,Zelda,Metroid,Smash brothers,all there big names Missing in Action

Edited by time2die (Sat 23-Mar-13 09:40:14)

In reply to a post by time2die:

In reply to a post by Lt_Swan:

I definitely won't be buying the new xbox and if sony do the same they can stick the ps4 where the sun don't shine

I doubt you be saying that if Battlefield 4 was only on the next generation consoles

I'm happy to play BF3. If the PS4 wants to spy on me I won't be playing BF4 on it.
I don't like the idea of being watched whatever I'm doing