The Xbox One is a fine video game console but one of its most consistently creepy qualities is how the thing just refuses to turn off. No matter how many times I press the power button the console glows back to life in a haunting refusal of my agency. I just leave it unplugged more often than not.
The invasion of privacy feels even worse if you still have a Kinect plugged in, the motion control camera that initially hobbled the console’s fortunes and was spooky enough to be a central Paranormal Activity gimmick.
We always figured that the Xbox’s camera and constant internet connection made it easy for Microsoft to spy on users. Nightmarish patents proposed using Kinect to detect how many people were in a room before allowing a movie to play. But a new report on Motherboard confirmed our fears. Yes, your Xbox is spying on you. Or at least it was.
According to the report, Microsoft contractors have been listening to Xbox recordings since at least 2014. It’s the kind of tedious mass data work necessary to improve complex AI functions like voice-recognition.
But no one wants their kid’s voice secretly recorded just so Cortana (which isn’t even built into Xbox One anymore, just mobile) can be a little more convenient. It’s almost as bad a working with ICE. And even the recording process isn’t perfect. We remember trolling opponents online by tricking them into saying “Xbox off.”
To their credit Microsoft claims they’ve recently stopped this practice. In a statement to our sister site PCMag Microsoft says “We stopped reviewing any voice content taken through Xbox for product improvement purposes a number of months ago, as we no longer felt it was necessary, and we have no plans to re-start those reviews.”
And it’s not like Microsoft is the only tech company snooping in on us. If only we were so lucky. Apple and Google use similarly sneaky controversial tactics to power their popular smart speakers and voice assistants. Meanwhile Amazon is out here bragging about literally seeing the fear in your eyes. So tape up your webcams and burn off your fingerprints. The only place safe is off the grid.
