Are you worried that the Xbox One Kinect will keep a very close eye on your behavior? According to Microsoft, the device wasn’t designed to spy on your every move.
Many folks are extremely concerned that the company will use the Kinect’s all-seeing eye to collect information. Some people believe Microsoft will sell this data to advertisers. However, Microsoft Director of Product Planning Albert Penello said this isn’t the case.
The issue was recently addressed during a conversation on the NeoGaf forums. Although many believe the Kinect was specifically designed with advertisers in mind, Penello said the device won’t collect and process your personal information.
“First — nobody is working on that. We have a lot more interesting and pressing things to dedicate time towards. It was an interview done speculatively, and I’m not aware of any active work in this space,” he explained in a recent post on the forums.
Should Microsoft decide to use the Xbox One Kinect to collect information for advertisers, Penello said users would have complete control over what can and cannot be shared. However, a recent article at Advertising Age tells a somewhat different tale.
According to the website, the next-generation console “can essentially work like TV that watches you.” An anonymous Microsoft marketer said the Xbox One Kinect can analyze how people physically respond to ads or if they’re even paying attention to what’s happening on-screen. In other words, the device may have its digital eye on you.
Microsoft marketing VP Yusuf Mehdi said the company is working hard to “bridge some of the world between online and offline.”
He continued:
“That’s a little bit of a holy grail in terms of how you understand the consumer in that 360 degrees of their life. We have a pretty unique position at Microsoft because of what we do with digital, as well as more and more with television because of Xbox. It’s early days, but we’re starting to put that together in more of a unifying way, and hopefully at some point we can start to offer that to advertisers broadly.”
While the Xbox One Kinect is no longer required , the company is still shipping the device with the console when it launches this November. Do you believe Microsoft intends to collect and sell your personal information to advertisers?
[Image via Barone Firenze / Shutterstock.com ]
