If you read the recently updated Terms & Conditions of Xbox Live (like we ALL DID, obviously, because accepting something without reading it would be really stupid...), then you'll notice there are bits in there covering Kinect's voyeurism.
Specifically:
Terms of Use said:
In the event you are using the console with Kinect, we may also collect data about the way in which you interact with the console and the Service to improve Microsoft products and services.
That's nice of them. I couldn't be more certain that nobody at microsoft would dream of using any of that data for wanking purposes.
Privacy Policy said:
The [Kinect] sensor gathers shape and depth, the camera can see colors and shapes, and the microphone can hear your voice commands, and these let Kinect enable gameplay by collecting the following categories of information:
[...]
Audio information - Voice Commands, Words and phrases used by the gamer to interact with the Kinect device and games or services on the device.
With your explicit consent, samples of voice commands and background noise occurring while using Kinect will be collected and periodically sent to Microsoft when you are on Xbox LIVE.
Obviously 'explicit consent' means 'you have to turn the option off'. And 'background noise' means 'anything the Kinect sensor can hear' - like private conversations in the same room, people who forget their xbox is on and have sex in the room (even if they're off camera they're still providing the audio)
Photographs: Kinect games may photograph you while you are engaging in game play.
Photograph you, and anyone else walking past the camera. Like your children, say. And of course, the camera is on whenever your xbox is on (unless you remember to specifically turn it off).
Biometric Sign-In - For Kinect, ?Biometric sign-in? means the shape and shading of your face in combination with its position on the skeleton
So now microsoft are holding my credit card details, my e-mail address, my date of birth, my home address and telephone number... and a biometric identifier?
It's a good job all that data is super secure and that even if it did go missing nobody could ever use it to make a fake passport and steal my identity.
Some Kinect machine information is also gathered for troubleshooting gamer sessions.
Ah, 'some'. That's nice and informative, then.
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You know the bit in 1984 where everyone has a camera in their house? You know how that was both a terrifying vision of a nightmare dystopia and also something that could NEVER EVER HAPPEN?
Hmm. I'm going to go and invest in some tinfoil.
