Xbox 1 is not even out yet.... wow

I think the main issue I have with kinect is just the simple lack of a uniform set of controls to be used in the games, some games menus work okie but others that use the Just dance style scroll wheel type menu just dont work, one of the Worst was the arcade game wreckateer, if you wanna shoot high and to the right you need to put your right arm down by your side and the left arm out from your body slightly.... you know the Kinect Menu command. They just need to make sure anyone using a kinect dev kit is handed a list of basic "these hand commands are great for these ideas" and people can go from there.

Well not everybody, but they still do listen in and sell information. Look into the Prism scandal where CEO's accounts had compromised e-mails.

So I have to unplug my console every time I want to turn it off? Not very convenient, rather just buy a system which I can leave plugged in.

Toylored ads are not okay, It's bad enough that facebook and twitter scan key words in our profile to tailor ads towards us, and now it's okay for the contents of our e-mails to be scanned for ads too?

I'd rather have an ad free system, I'm not paying $100's of dollars to see ads, never did before, and I don't want to now.

I'm not worried about Kinect at all. I'm just gonna buy a PS4, Problem solved.

Options are great! Competition is great! You don't like kinect for whatever reason, just don't buy it. There's really no drama here.

It can be turned off though, Im sure I read that somewhere.

I know that the belief here is that only people who weren't planning on buying an xbox anyways are hating on kinect, but the truth is that there are tons of people who are scared or angered by the idea of the NSA, Prism, always listening, collecting personal data, advertising, etc (tell anyone of those words to a mass audience and they would be instantly turned off). Maybe it is them being unreasonable, but it's definitely not just ps4 fanboys. There's a much bigger issue here than just hate for the sake of hate.

The Xbox guys can spin it away and try to call everyone who has serious issues with this -- as paranoid or crazy.  Simply put,  the technology is in place and exists to spy on you and with Kinect it just gets a whole lot easier.  There is a whole host of privacy concerns (ISPs, Telephone, Cell phone calls, text messages, emails, etc)  The worst privacy concern of all is an object sitting inside your home.

As I said,

Any of the skeptics go ahead and take a gander.  There is legitimate concern with having this device in your living room if you value your privacy somewhat.  Especially since Microsoft will fall in line with anything the government wants and has already proven as much.   

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/6/10/inside_the_nsas_domestic_surveillance_apparatus_whistleblower_william_binney_speaks_out

This type of stuff is/has been going on and people just want to remain oblivious to it.  Perhaps my favorite part of the video is :

AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of the FBI, in 2008, actor Shia LaBeouf appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. During the interview, he talked about an FBI agent showing him a recorded conversation from two years prior to meeting him.

SHIA LABEOUF: I remember we had an FBI consultant on the picture telling me that they can use your ADT security box microphone to get your stuff that’s going on in your house, or OnStar, they could shut your car down. And he told me that one in five phone calls that you make are recorded and logged. And I laughed at him. And then he played back a phone conversation I had had two years prior—

JAY LENO: Come on.

SHIA LABEOUF: —to joining the picture. The FBI consultant. And it was like one of those—it was one of those phone calls—it was like, you know, "What are you wearing?" type of things.

JAY LENO: Really?

SHIA LABEOUF: Yeah, so it was—it was mad weird, but—

JAY LENO: Can we—no, wait. So you mean they had a record of you from—

SHIA LABEOUF: Two years prior to me joining the picture.

JAY LENO: —even being associated with the movie?

SHIA LABEOUF: With the movie.

JAY LENO: Well, that seems creepy.

SHIA LABEOUF: It’s extremely creepy.

Makes me laugh how paranoid some people get over spying. Reminds me of this incident inside of a Pizza Hut like 5 years ago, I was behind this guy in line who refused to give the cashier his phone number. They use the number to track what you order and to place any credits on there for you in case something is wrong. The guy was having no part of it, saying it would put him "in the system" and that he might as well wear a shirt that has his SSN in big bright numbers on it. He asked for the manager and the store manager came and told the guy he needed to give a phone number to order a pizza and he just looks at them and says "guess I won't be ordering a pizza then" and walks out while eying the cashier and manager the entire time, never took his eyes off them. Then everyone in earshot burst out laughing at the guy.

Anyone complaining about it, I hope they are joking. I feel sorry for anyone who isn't joking.

I'm not paranoid. I just have no interest whatsoever in an add-on that I'll never use which increases the cost of a console.

I'll buy an XB1 when they release a non-kinect version in about a years time.

Yes, they said something like this. But in my opinion, this is hardly going to convince the critics - maybe even rather the contrary.

I mean, if someone does not trust the software running on Xbox 1, fearing that there might be built-in mechanisms that allow for the Kinect to be used as a surveillance device - no matter if these fears are justified or not - why should these people trust a simple software switch in the very same firmware?

If you were suspicious that  a certain website asking for your online banking credentials might be a phishing attack, would you feel safe if there was a section on the very same page saying "We will not use your information to rob your banking account"?

So wouldn't people rather think: "Wait a minute, if I can simply turn Kinect off in the settings, why can't I simply not attach the device at all?" That way, these people wouldn't have to trust that the device isn't spying on them; they could simply ensure it.

That would indeed be the easiest and most reliable way to calm down any fears about Xbox One being a "surveillance device". But they didn't do it, and so far I haven't seen a really good explanation for why they didn't chose this most obvious solution. The best explanation I've heard so far is what some Microsoft person even confirmed: That the privacy options in Xbox One allow for a certain amount of control about what information the Xbox 1 collects and sends to the internet - but the user does not  have full control.

I guess certain hardcore Microsoft enthusiasts will continue to simply ignore and ridicule any privacy fears, even though we are experiencing history's biggest mass surveillance scandal right now. EVILOLIVE, MICT, TRAFFICTHIEF, CONVEYANCE, NUCLEON, PINWALE, SCISSORS, FALLOUT, PRINTAURA, UTT, MARINA & MAINWAY, PRISM - The list of surveillance programs being made public is growing faster than my ability to remember what they are all for can handle, and I probably even forgot a few...