The Xbox One (successor to 360) Will Always Be Listening To You Even When Off

[Anti Federalist]

. . . yet.

Not any longer.

NSA went "real time" with the new spy center in Utah a few weeks back IIRC.

Can process, scan, highlight, flag, analyze and store yotta bytes of information daily.

The Utah Data Center, also known as the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center,[1] is a data storage facility for the United States Intelligence Community that is designed to be a primary storage resource capable of storing data on the scale of yottabytes (1 yottabyte = 1 trillion terabytes, or 1 quadrillion gigabytes).[2][3] Its purpose — as the name implies — is to support the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), though its precise mission is secret.[4] The National Security Agency, which will lead operations at the facility, is the executive agent for the Director of National Intelligence.[5] It is located at Camp Williams, near Bluffdale, Utah, between Utah Lake and Great Salt Lake.

The data center is alleged to be able to capture "all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Internet searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital 'pocket litter'."[2] According to the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, the federal government is legally prohibited from collecting, storing, analyzing, or disseminating the content of the communications of US persons, whether inside or outside of the United States, unless authorized by an individual warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.[6]

This mission does not include monitoring communications of Americans in the United States. An NSA spokesperson said, "Many unfounded allegations have been made about the planned activities of the Utah Data Center," and further said that "one of the biggest misconceptions about NSA is that we are unlawfully listening in on, or reading emails of, U.S. citizens. This is simply not the case."[5]

And if believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you.

 

[TheTexan]

Can process, scan, highlight, flag, analyze and store yotta bytes of information daily.

That can't be accurate... That would be 1,000,000,000,000 terabytes.

I at least I hope that's not accurate... goddamn

 

[CPUd]

That can't be accurate... That would be 1,000,000,000,000 terabytes.

I at least I hope that's not accurate... goddamn

They're talking storage, they can't do any kind of deep analysis on that scale. If they use it to create a file on an individual, the info in it would be about 5 years old.

 

[pmbug]

I'm sure there will be a way to disconnect the Kinnect unit (the camera / microphone). If not, the camera can alway be covered with a cloth and could be similarly foiled within a container when not in use. So all your visiting friends and family can relax on your couch with their Google Glasses.

 

[pmbug]

...
This mission does not include monitoring communications of Americans in the United States. An NSA spokesperson said, "Many unfounded allegations have been made about the planned activities of the Utah Data Center," and further said that "one of the biggest misconceptions about NSA is that we are unlawfully listening in on, or reading emails of, U.S. citizens. This is simply not the case."[5]

And if believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Oh, that's the NCTC's job.

 

[DamianTV]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-extent-of-kinect-2-s-visual-drm-is-beginning-to-emerge/0116138

Kinect 2 will be able to employ certain DRM measures depending on what it observes in the living room.

That’s the conclusion suggested by a patent filed by Microsoft, and corroborated by sources talking to MCV in the weeks leading up to this week’s Xbox One reveal.

ExtremeTech reports that Microsoft has filed for a patent that allows Kinect to monitor the number of viewers in the room. It then cross-checks this with the maximum number of viewers permitted by the licence that a user agrees to when purchasing or renting content.

If it is deemed that too many people are present, the user will be prompted to pay an additional fee to upgrade the licence.

Says the filing: “The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.”

It should be noted too that Kinect is designed to continuously observe its roommates. It also adds that the T&Cs for any particular piece of content can be determined by the copyright holder.

It’s also hard to stop yourself pondering where such a tech ideology could lead. Could Kinect block 18-rated content if it detects minors in the room? What if the owner of the content licence leaves mid-viewing?

And how much of this information is being fed back to Microsoft? And even more importantly, its affiliates?

Are content owners paying to receive information about what part of a film viewers enjoyed the most? Or whether they continued to look at the TV screen when an advertisement was aired?

Big questions lie ahead.

When contacted by MCV Microsoft said it does not comment on rumour and speculation.

UPDATE: To address the question of the age of the patent. Yes, the patent is old. But we have been told by UK industry sources within the last month that this system will be implemented on Xbox One.

What? Too many people watching this Male Soap Opera? Pay us more money!

 

[moostraks]

. . . yet.

And every journey begins with a first step. I also think that most of us realize the fact that with the number of laws we have anyone can be made an enemy of the state if they come up in the crosshairs of the wrong gov't agents. Trust me they will misconstrue the most innocent situation to make anyone appear like the next Charles Manson, Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow, or Osama Bin Laden. It ain't what they can process right now that worries me but how it WILL be misused in the future.

 

[CPUd]

 

[DamianTV]

Would anyone go out and buy a DVD Player that needs to connect to the internet ever 24 hours? Why should game consoles?

 

[jkob]

I think I'll be retiring from gaming this next gen, way too Orwellian

 

[opal]

aspiring entrepreneurs - heads up.. sound proof black box to store the blasted thing in while not in use.. comes with black electrical tape to cover camera lens while in use.

 

[Polomy]

You guys should really be watching out for those Wii Miis and their fake smiles.. They're up to something and they're never candid about it.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

US Military Funds Effort to Hack Video Game Consoles
Tue, Mar 27, 2012
http://news.yahoo.com/us-military-funds-effort-hack-video-game-consoles-182608424.html

Popular video game consoles such as Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 may resemble the new battlefields for national security in the eyes of the U.S. military. The U.S. Navy has begun funding a project to hack previously owned game consoles in an effort to dig up gamers' online chat room information and other stored data.

U.S. console gamers can breathe a tiny sigh of relief for now, because the current project forbids targeting "U.S. persons." Instead, the Navy wants a California-based company called Obscure Technologies to buy video game consoles bought in used overseas markets, and to create computer forensic tools capable of hacking such consoles.

"This project requires the purchasing of used video game systems outside the US in a manner that is likely to result in their containing significant and sensitive information from previous users," according to a Navy justification and approval notice issued yesterday (March 26).

Obscure Technologies apparently has plenty of experience in hacking game consoles to mine data — the company's lead scientist had "previously reverse engineered the Microsoft Xbox," according to the Navy's notice.

"Analysis of the game systems requires specific knowledge of working with the hardware of embedded systems that have significant anti-tampering technology," the Navy notice says. "Obscure Technologies has substantial experience in working with such systems."

The Navy wants the company to not only hack "dirty" used game consoles, but also to show how to scrape "clean" data from newly bought game consoles. The new consoles being provided for such testing include a pair of Nintendo Wii consoles, a pair of Sony Playstation 3 systems, and a pair of Microsoft Xbox 360 systems, according to a project summary posted on Feb. 15.

The military isn't alone in wanting to mine data from video games, even if its focus may lean more toward tracking terrorists and enemies abroad. Both game studios and academic researchers have come up with ways to track gamer actions and behaviors during specific PC or console video games — either for better understanding gamers as customers or for studying human behavior in the equivalent of virtual labs.

There is also nothing particularly secretive about the hacking project. The Navy contract specifies that it plans to publicize the results at conferences and publish in academic journals, as well as make open- source software from the contract available to academic researchers.

Still, the Navy does expect Obscure Technologies to deliver hardware and software capable of hacking video game consoles at the end of its $177,000, 15-month contract in July 2013. Such tools are expected to be made for the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate — and there's no particular mention of what Homeland Security might want with them.

-t

 

[Polomy]

Yeah I'm not buying anything that can and will be used to track your presence and the presence of your guests or counhabitants so precisely.

 

[The Bavarian]

They can watch me jerk off all they want, but I'll be the one charging them.

 

[DamianTV]

They can watch me jerk off all they want, but I'll be the one charging them.

Read the EULA (when it comes out). Jerking off in front of a Kinect is both Copyrighted and Patented by M$. Best part is they can sell videos of you tossing your Man Alfredo Sauce all over your living room, they keep the money, and they dont even have to tell you that they are selling pornos of you!

 

[jim49er]

Xbox One preowned plan revealed?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/xbox-one-preowned-plan-revealed-6408850?tag=Topslot;Slot1

WOW This is what you call blowback. Check out the comments

 

[CPUd]

TV
TV



sports.

 

[jclay2]

Just another reason to avoid video games. Go outside, see the world, post on ronpaulforums...

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Connecting Kinects for Group Surveillance
http://actu.epfl.ch/news/connecting-kinects-for-group-surveillance/

21.12.10 - EPFL doctoral student patents new algorithm for hacking multiple kinects to track groups of people even in the dark.

It seems like every gadget freak, geek, wants to get their hands on Microsoft’s new Kinect gaming device, which captures 3D movement using cameras, sensors, and infra-red light. But they don’t neccessarily want to hook the gizmo up to an Xbox and play a game. They want to hack it.

Alexandre Alahi, a Ph.D. student in the Signal Processing Lab at the EPFL, was no different. He and a team used open-source software released online just days after the Kinect’s launch to develop a new, patented algorithm that leverages multiple Kinects instead of just one to detect crowds—even in the dark.



“I was fascinated by the performance of the camera in assessing the depth of a scene at such an affordable price,” says Alahi, a video-surveillance technology specialist.

The algorithm works to combine the viewing angles from multiple Kinects to recognize shapes and differentiate, for example, between a human being, a bicycle, or a vehicle. And whereas the normal set-up only detects up to a few meters, the algorithm expands this scope to tens of meters and allows high-level function in low light without confusing shadows for human figures.

“Even if shapes are superimposed, our algorithm is robust enough to distinguish them,” adds Alahi.

Alahi envisions numerous applications for his system, including security at airports and train stations, where it could provide precise statistical information to help optimize the flow of people or be used to detect suspicious behavior. He can also imagine its use to track numerous players on a sports field, number of people in a queue, or customer behavior inside shops, where it could possibly predict behavior.


Researcher Contact:
Alexandre Alahi
Signal Processing Lab, EPFL
Phone: +41 +21 693 56 52
[email protected]
http://lts2www.epfl.ch/~alahi/current.htm