Microsoft Patents In-Home Consumer Monitoring System

[Quaxar]

...WHY THE FRAK IS NO-ONE IN POWER DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THE LUDICROUS AND ORWELLIAN POWER THAT MEGACORPS HAVE?!?!?!

The power to file for a patent? Yeah, it's ridiculous I say!

Anyone remember Sony's patent on compulsory ads during games? No? Exactly!
It's a patent, that doesn't mean it's going to get used. In fact, it means that no other company can just implement anything like that willy-nilly without paying immense royalties. That is a good thing!
The pharmacy sector files hundreds of patents yearly for failed products. Some people need to relax and re-read before flipping.

 

[frizzlebyte]

Let's say in some nightmarish reality this becomes the norm. What's to stop me just turning the camera around? Or sticking a bit of paper over it?

You wouldn't be able to watch the movie, maybe? That would make the most sense.

 

[sethisjimmy]

Fucking hell. Forcing users to agree to licenses based on the number of people using a product privately? Even limiting the number of uses instead of using a timed basis?
I mean ignoring how stupidly easy it would be to just sit out of view of the camera, this is a massive "fuck you" to all people who purchase from Microsoft.
This ties in to Jim's video this week as well. Instead of focusing on making it's product and services better, Microsoft is money-grubbing. Literally looking for loopholes from which to gain money as if it can barely pay its rent, and isn't a multimillion dollar corporation.

 

[Bobic]

Well, I guess it's just time to strip down naked and vigorously hump a Bill Gates effigy while watching films. What? You gonna fuck me, well fuck you too.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

And people could pirate the media and never have to put up with any of that. See the problem?

Yea I see the problem. The consumers are still "pirating" our content. Obviously we need more messages at the beginning of our media to alert people the the illegality of such actions.

 

[Formica Archonis]

This just in: Microsoft to change name to "Network 23".

 

[CardinalPiggles]

If this ever, EVER becomes a reality, then I'll never buy anything from MS again.

What I do in my own home is up to me. If I want to watch a film with anyone else I'll fucking do it.

 

[anian]

You can try to resist, but I see a few choices
- become a pirate in your own home and use a camera to tape the thing you're watching, then rewatch it later
- make a costume in form of a chair and put a stocking over your face so the kinect doesn't recognize you
- enter on four legs masked as a big family dog
- take a photograph of your family in front of the tv then hang the photo on a string in front of the kinect camera, shake it every so often so it recognizes movement
- my last idea goes into the violent illegal territory so never mind that

Next thing you'll know they'll limit the number of times you can fondle yourself while watching an adult movie or a the number of times when you can laugh during a comedy, number of tears during a tragic story. Maybe even a Kinect that talks like "Aww, man, what are you watching? Oh, no, no, no way, you pervy bastard."

 

[Roander]

Has anyone patented 'Piece of paper taped over front of Kinect sensor' yet? I think I'll call it a Privacy Shield.

 

[snekadid]

This is the point where we get our tinfoil hats and start building bomb shelters right?

This is definitely something to keep an eye on.... cant trust corporations ever since they decided their people....

According to MIT, Tinfoil hats actually amplify mind-control beams. [http://boingboing.net/2012/10/01/tinfoil-hats-actually-amplify.html] So better to just build a Faraday cage around that bomb shelter.

no wai! I knew the tin foil hat defense was a plot to enable mind control! I should of voted zod for prez.

 

[GenGenners]

Hey guys, what's goi--------
*Reads article*
See you later guys!
*Leaves internet*

 

[DanDeFool]

Okay, so apparently the fact that people didn't really start buying music online until the major distributors got rid of DRM has been completely lost on everyone in the industry.

Whatever. It'll never sell. People vote with their wallets, and I can't imagine any content compelling enough to make me willing to put up with this crap, let alone actually pay for it. Any content distributor who opts to use this sort of system will go broke, and rightfully so.

 

[DonTsetsi]

Don't worry guys, Kinect is not that good at recognizing people, just have all guests sit down before you turn on the console and then tell them not to move.

 

[Samurai Silhouette]

Maybe Microsoft's just patenting it so no other company can ever use it as well as not use it itself!

Good Guy Microsoft!

 

[MrStab]

Because there is no way whatsoever this could blow up in Microsoft's face really there isn't.

 

[weirdee]

Remember kids, when you asked for that semiconscious, face and limb tracking voice recognition camera to be installed in your device, it was exactly what you paid for.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Dear Microsoft, GTFO me.

Sincerly, Terra (aka the earth)

P.S. Luna says don't think you can crash here either.

I don't know about you all, but if it comes right down to it, I'm more than happy to firebomb M$'s assets and salt the earth to stop their progression of this line of bullshit.

Or less hyperbolically I hope that groups like Anon might decide to stop with the mostly juvenile pranks and actually rise up to keep shit like this in check so that the worst case doesn't happen, and that this kind of crap never becomes acceptable in ANY home EVER.

 

[Roganzar]

Microsoft?
What are you doing?
Microsoft?
Stahp!!!

If I knew anyone that worked for Microsoft, regardless of how, I would slap them upside the back of the head on principle. For this and Win8.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Yup, my dual boot system will be much more Ubuntu heavy now

 

[tsaweeos]

This is more or less off-topic but over the past year or two that I've started paying attention to politics I can honestly say I'm really starting to hate Capitalism. There's a good and bad side to everything so I can't hate it as a whole but companies should never be given empowerment over human rights and freedoms nor should they have the power to manipulate politics.

ACTA - Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (failed but revived as Canadian European Trade Agreement and something else was made for the US)(Created by MPAA, not an elected official)
CISPA- Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Warrant-less spying for US gov)
PIPA - Protect Intellectual Property Act
SOPA - Stop Online Piracy Act
TPP - Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (Will make you a criminal if you click on a link to any website your government doesn't like)

(Canadian Bills)
Bill c30 & 32 aka "Lawful Access Legislation" (Vic Towes blindly defended this bill because he was paid off to)
Bill c11 "Copyright modernization act" (Makes Canada's Copyright laws equally as corrupt as the US)

I'm sick of all these Copyright & Surveillance based bills that are written in such a way that allows empowerment over our civil liberties all for the sake of protecting Corperate Amerrica's God "Copyright"; Just because they think they can lose money off of sharing, a kind human gesture. (See video: TED Talk's "The 8 Billion dollar IPOD")

I'm also sick of their abusive EULA's and ToS agreements that allow companies to snoop through our Personal Computers so they can compile a list of software programs or hardware specs, just so they can sell it off to data analysis groups or advertisers just to make an extra buck. I don't care how convenient it is for developers to know my harware specs. They don't need to know my IP address and MAC address just to make a good video game. If they want to know it, they can ask for it in a survey like Steam, not go behind my back and snoop like EA with their Origin service.

It's like buying a couch and signing an EULA that allows the company to walk into my home whenever they want just to see what I buy. It's non of their damn business.

This is why so many people who bought PC games or software programs that don't agree to the EULA (and can't get a refund) end up download a clean copy of said product.

/rant