The Xbox One's Kinect can be customized to not see or collect data on its users, said Microsoft Thursday in attempt to calm privacy concerns.
Microsoft said previously the next-generation Kinect will be able to see players faces, recognize their facial expressions, monitor their heart rate, respond to their voice and monitor their emotional feedback. While this certainly represents a leap forward in gaming technology, some have raised concerns about what Microsoft is doing with all this data.
In an attempt to clarify the capabilities of the new Kinect, Microsoft said that users will have complete control over each of its settings upon setup, including when the Xbox One's Kinect is on or off.
According to the Microsoft statement, when the Xbox One is on and you’re simply having a conversation in your living room, that conversation is not being recorded or uploaded.
It's important to note that The Washington Post published a report Thursday that says Microsoft and eight other tech companies are sharing a broad range of user data with the National Security Advisory under a secret program known as PRISM. While the report states this data collection is not intentionally targeted at "any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person or anyone located within the United States," it overshadows any statement by Microsoft about privacy protection.
If you don't want the Kinect observing you during games or other entertainment, you can pause the device, Microsoft said — though some titles will require Kinect integration. When the Xbox One is turned off, the Kinect will only listen for the voice command of "Xbox On."
Additionally, while the Kinect can take in data from players to deepen the game experience, such as monitoring heart rates during a fitness game, Microsoft said the data remains on the Xbox One without the player's permission.
The new Kinect and Xbox One will launch later this year.
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