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Microsoft's Kinect could let advertisers into your home
Kinect for Xbox 360
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TEXT OF STORY
STEVE CHIOTAKIS: The Microsoft Kinect is a new video game system you plug into your X-Box console. Users don't have to hold any controller and worry about pressing this or toggling that. Kinect uses sensors, cameras, even voice recognition to track where you are. It 'sees' what you're doing in your own home. Sound a little creepy?
Here's reporter Sally Herships.
SALLY HERSHIPS: Katja Schroeder and her husband Henry Trieu live in Brooklyn. They have a four year old daughter and for Christmas the family bought a Kinect, Microsoft's new game system. They set it up in their living room and went on a virtual white water rafting trip. As they were playing the game snapped pictures of the family. And at the end they were flashed on the screen.
KATJA SCHROEDER: And we were like, what are these pictures doing and where are they going? And so Henry was immediately running to his computer and checking where they're going.
Nowhere -- without their permission. Microsoft says photos and videos are saved to the X-Box. But users can upload them to Kinectshare.com where files can be shared online or downloaded. Schroeder and Trieu were still concerned.
SCHROEDER: You don't want to have pictures of you being distributed if you don't want them to be distributed.
HENRY TRIEU: I mean, you can't play this in your underwear.
At a recent presentation for investors, Microsoft said the ability to see into consumer's living rooms means advertising opportunities. Kinect's cameras can be used to identify people, or objects. Then share shopper's preferences with advertisers. Brett Gordon teaches Marketing at Columbia University.
BRETT GORDON: They don't just want to show you an ad and think that you may or may not buy. They'd like to really really know that that's going to be such a well placed, well targeted ad that you have a really high likelihood of buying.
Gordon says if Microsoft could count the number of people watching ads they could charge advertisers more. Microsoft says this isn't part of their current plan. But would consumers let cameras in their Living Rooms? Betsy MacKay says yes. She lives in Dallas and describes herself as a busy working mom.
BETSY MACKAY: So the fact that advertisers are targeting me because they understand more closely what I like and what I might be interested in buying -- that's good old capitalism at work. That just made my life a little bit easier.
Microsoft says the targeted ad capabilities of the Kinect are only an idea for the future. But if you are a Kinect owner now and worried about privacy, follow Brooklynite Henry Trieu's advice. Keep your clothes on.
I'm Sally Herships for Marketplace.
By the way, I tried my hand at the Kinect a few weeks ago, fully clothed, thank you. The video's at Marketplace.org.
1. the photos many of the games show you of yourself end up in the xbox itself. Unless you manually TELL the game to share the photos, the only way anyone else can see them is to physically go to your xbox ""(it's not a computer: you can't 'hack into' someone else's xbox to see the files)."" Also note that each game that takes pictures has an option to turn the feature off. You can also delete the photos from the xbox.
The quoted part is bullish!t. I've access my friends xbox via Ethernet cord and his pc,. I can explain how simple this process, once u actually gone the software and knowledge to do it, and if I can do threw a direct connect I can do via Internet connection
We bought a Kinect for our kids. While it is a great techological experience, and I really enjoy playing side-by-side with my son, it made me think about the trade-off we face almost daily in online activity. We put personal details of our private lives on social media for all to see, and inviting the camera into our houses is a logical extension. It's ironic that Orwell's 1984 saw that as a totalitarian device, and to us it's part of an entertainment system. It bothers me that the red light is still shining on the Kinect even when the XBox is turned off....
Kinect Adventures has a simple solution for the owner who is disturbed by it taking photographs during game play: in the Options menu, he can disable photography. It is very simple. Then he can play in whatever attire he pleases without fear of embarrassment. Microsoft should perhaps warn users when they initially play Kinect games that the device will be taking pictures, so they can opt out immediately.
No, you pay $300 for both the 360 that let you play games normally on a controller AND the kinect which lets you play without the controller. The game isn't spying on you. This is just another warping of a situation, similar to the "xbox can't see black people" scare.
Yes, the kinect can 'see' the room... that's WHY it's able to work in the first place (how else is it going to tell when you raise your hand). As for what it does with the info (other than play the game) it does exactly THIS:
1. the photos many of the games show you of yourself end up in the xbox itself. Unless you manually TELL the game to share the photos, the only way anyone else can see them is to physically go to your xbox (it's not a computer: you can't 'hack into' someone else's xbox to see the files). Also note that each game that takes pictures has an option to turn the feature off. You can also delete the photos from the xbox.
2. Microsoft does ASK during the setup if they can collect voice data for research purposes. It's optional and defaults to 'no' and, if you say yes accidentally, you can change it in Online Safety.
That's it. As for IF they get involved with advertizing, they'll probably (if they are smart) make it optional, just like how there's already an option to allow or disallow Microsoft and 3rd party marketing (it's in Online Safety). Thus, either it'll be tied to that choice or tied to a new option that can be turned off or on.
Note that MS has considered stunts before (I remember when they wanted to make Windows into a micropayment system) but didn't follow through. This isn't Facebook afterall.
So let me get this right. I pay $300 some odd dollars for a game that "spies" on me? Shouldn't I get paid by Microsoft for this "privilege"? I think consumers are being phished enough through electronic payments (credit card usage), online shopping, Facebook, Google email and what ever else. Give us a break!
