I doubt they have the camera (on the phone) working inside your house even when the thing is off. GPS is actually quite useful. If they are recording conversations though, that is against the law in my country of origin at least. Only the police can do that and they need an authorisation from the judge.

Mantaining a log of your activities is normal though. Things like wich numbers you called and wich items you bought or browsed on the shop. The log is necessary for the detailed bill and browse history is something that has been used for ages on websites like say amazon for example.

This is nowhere near the intrusion microsoft is trying to make with the Xbone.

Also for those that say microsoft wouldnt make a console that would be deemed illegal, i lol. Microsoft has in several times ignored rulings of european courts on the charges of monopoly practices. They have been heavily fined and i dont know if they ended up doing what they were told. If not im sure they will be fined again.

They will launch this and if deemed illegal they will still keep selling it and take the fines if they deem it worth it versus spying on those that bought it. Its a disgusting practice.

We in europe take abuses to our rights very seriously.

its the exact same kind of intrusion, except not only in your home, but on the go to. Wether its video of you doing something, or a text file of all your actions, they both invade your privacy. Its not just a log of things you have bought or people you called, they often track all of your internet searches and page loads, and GPS locations of where you travel. If you really care about privacy you should look into what these cell phones company are collecting about you.  Why hate on ms but not others that infringe? I know europeans take their privacy and consumer laws seriously. I respect them for that. But if your going to hate on ms for this you should hate on apple, and google too.

its the exact same kind of intrusion, except not only in your home, but on the go to. Wether its video of you doing something, or a text file of all your actions, they both invade your privacy. Its not just a log of things you have bought or people you called, they often track all of your internet searches and page loads, and GPS locations of where you travel. If you really care about privacy you should look into what these cell phones company are collecting about you.  Why hate on ms but not others that infringe? I know europeans take their privacy and consumer laws seriously. I respect them for that. But if your going to hate on ms for this you should hate on apple, and google too.

Who says i dont? I dont have one of those smart phones. Never felt the need.

But i dont think its the same kind of intrusion. Now you're telling me that the videos you make get sent to them aswell? I find that odd, but its quite bad if its true.

This will be more informative than anything i can say. I think the speaker is even from Germany and is going off of what German phone compaines keep on him.

I think even "dumb" phones can be data mined and tracked. Not just smart phones.

http://www.ted.com/talks/malte_spitz_your_phone_company_is_watching.html

"

German Green politician Malte Spitz went to court to obtain the information that his cell phone operator, Deutsche Telekom, gathered (and kept) about his activity. The results astonished him. Over the course of six months, they had tracked his geographical location and what he was doing with his phone more than 35,000 times. Working with the German newspaper Die Zeit, an infographic was created that shows Spitz's activity across an interactive timeline, combined DT's geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and website. By pushing the play button, viewers can set off on a detail-rich trip through six months of his life. And more, because he keeps asking the telecom company for his most recent data.

Spitz, a member of the Executive Committee of the German Green Party, is responsible for media and new-media policies, civil liberties and privacy issues.

"Seen individually, the pieces of data are mostly inconsequential and harmless. But taken together, they provide what investigators call a profile–a clear picture of a person’s habits and preferences, and indeed, of his or her life."

"Betrayed by Our Own Data," Die Zeit"

To me that kind of data gathering and comiling is far more scary than any videos that may be taken with kinect. Especially since this is MS and every watch dog and consumer advocate group will be watching them. Any other company may get a free pass, but not MS. I have faith that anyhting they do to infringe on privacy will be shouted to the high heavens by people. there fore forcing MS to be really safe, where as other companies are not scrutinized nearly as much. This is a digital age we live, no free service is free, its just an exchange of your habits being sold to ad companies for use of what ever "free" service you get.

I think they are bad aswell. I dont think either one of them is morally acceptable. Tracking GPS can be useful if your phone is stolen or you're kidnapped, but only upon solicitation. Constant survailance is not acceptable.

I dont think Microsoft is any better in spite of all this. They are just as bad or worse. Microsoft has their own phone aswell.

Its definitly not OK for these companies to be doing this. Not ok at all.