iPhone, Xbox and other NSA tools

reply to post by SeeEm


The Kinect camera no longer needs to be attached for the Xbox One to work. You are free to leave it in the box and never use it. As for the always on internet connection, isn't your internet connection always active? Obviously i cannot speak for everyone, but i know my cable connection doesn't stop unless i want it to or there is a tech problem.

reply to post by Foppezao

I have promised myself i will never buy any American phone, tablet or game computer, ever..

Then prepare to not own anything of quality electronics wise for the next...ever. I get that these products may be unsavory in the fact that they have these features, which could be used to spy on you.

And that no doubt, they are spying on us in some capacity. But American and European companies own the monopoly on hardware and software licensing and intellectually property patents.

Voting with your dollar, is actually much harder than some people think.

As for the finger print scanner, it can be deactivated and with enough tech know how, entirely disabled from the devices OS.

~Tenth

reply to post by Thorneblood


I know on some wifi s (mine anyway) i can manually decide which devices to allow a connection. Even if they didn't cancel the 24/7 internet access requirement, I'm pretty sure once I reconnected it any updates I missed would have automatically downloaded. It just seems ridiculous that they would really expect everyone to have 24/7 internet. In all the articles I've read about it, I just can't find real logic behind that.

reply to post by SeeEm


Microsoft is located in Washington State which utilizes Comcast Cable as its primary provider of high speed internet. Since high speed internet is always on, or at least always open, and many of the best games require a high speed reliable connection for things like multi player gaming then i fail to see why anyone is confused by it. They simply built the Xbox One to fall in line with the current trends in technology, which includes an always on internet connection, voice and motion control and constant software updates/dlc expansions. They also had aspirations to utilize cloud based gaming servers so things like MMORPGS could finally be adapted to the Xbox. In the end i think all those anti-xbox critics shot themselves in the foot by hyping a paranoid fantasy instead of realizing the inherent potential for expansive and well crafted video games that some of these "damned" features could have provided.

I'm not trying to sound like a paranoid freak. When I'm actually using the xbox of course it will be connected. But when I'm not using it, what's the point?
Granted, I don't like the thought that someone could hack into my living room if they really wanted to. But duct tape and cutting off it's wifi access seem like very simple solutions to me. I still plan on buying an xbox one.

reply to post by SeeEm


Except you don't need duct tape because, as i said before, you no longer need to connect the camera to the Xbox One for it to function, you can leave the Kinect in the box or even sell it if you so desire. You also did not need to be constantly connected for it work, you just needed to log in online every day or so for updates/etc....which has also been removed.

CNET

The Xbox One will still ship with the new version of the Kinect camera, but connecting it will no longer be mandatory, Microsoft Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten told IGN

"Like online, the console will still function if Kinect isn't plugged in, although you won't be able to use any feature or experience that explicitly uses the sensor," Whitten said.

The latest policy reversal follows Microsoft removing its infamous "Internet check-in" requirement, which would shut down key features of the Xbox One, such as offline single-player gaming, if it couldn't connect to the Internet at least once every 24 hours.

Whitten did note that the Kinect could also simply be turned off if people had fears about the device collecting information on them.

"You have the ability to completely turn the sensor off in your settings. When in this mode, the sensor is not collecting any information," he said.

So there ya go, simple searches will confirm that all of this is just a paranoid fantasy. It doesn't need the internet connection or the kinect, you can run it completely offline and no one will be able to watch you through its "evil camera".

reply to post by Thorneblood


that isn't what i'm saying, but you went ahead and ran with it anyway--and i wouldn't deny anyone the opportunity to throw around some tired nazi rhetoric, lol.

i don't have anything else to say to you, our exchange will be insightful to perceptive lurkers.

reply to post by anon29


If you did a quick google search you would see the reason they scrapped those features was DUE to users complaining about them aggressively... However, if you disagree that's fine. I'm in the industry so I'm simply stating facts.

~Sovereign

AmberLeaf
The fingerprint thing will be turned off on most phones id imagine. You go for a drink, go to phone a cab....it wont recognise your swollen fingerprint, its just a pointless piece of junk to make the apple fanboys feel like they are getting new tech...that has been around for years already...my laptop has fingerprint recognition ffs and thats 4 years old!!

NSA can spy on you in ways you cannot even imagine, so having an additional games console is going to make little difference if they want to track you.

Flaimin strewth, strike a light.

Look, you pay MORE for the fancy ipohne 5 with finger print scanner, you pay less for the one without it.

So, pay more to get that feature, then turn it off.

NO ONE IS THINKING..

It's all good 007 stuiff tho, so lets ignore reality, lmao.

*bangs head on brick wall*

brandiwine14
That's why in my home we got rid of most everything but our twenty year old computer that has no camera.

Wow, 20 years old? No camrea you say. No use, either, really. Oh, boat anchor perhaps. Maybe a way to whittle down your electricity. If, that is, it still turns on.

Oh I know, you were just saying 20 years.. I bet it's at least 350mhz.

I really wish I had less morals.. people like you are just an insane cash cow waiting to be exploited.

I could have been alex jones.. but, then, I'd really just be sick all the time with how corrupt I'd have to be...

PS; you can buy a brand new computer and not connect any cameras to it. Just like you can buy a brand new iphone 5 that doesnt have a finger print scanner.

If the nsa want your finger prints, they will just lift them off the shopping trolly... because you're that important that they will expend this effort, why else would this continual fisco be pushed forward?

Only way for us to be safe is to die, I think.. oh well, it's either that or paranoia out the backside....

reply to post by Thorneblood


Actually, it is interesting.

There is a fair bit of info out there, apart from ATS also.

scary.

for such a paranoid mind too...

jheated5

SeeEm
Snooping or not, the xbox one will still work just fine with a piece of duct tape over the camera lens and if you disconnect it's internet access when you're not using it.

That duct tape also going to work on the voice command portion of the Kinect???

Have you tried unplugging the device?

It might stop working then. And if you're using it to play games online, you may find that you use that feature.

I have to depart thie thread, I'm going to have a flamin stroke...

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I believe Korea, Japan and Taiwan make very neat stuff, i got plenty of choices, don't need their cars too.
And for instance emailservices in Canada(hush mail) and Australia also offer a lot more privacy.
Its not only that i have things to hide, which i might. I don't want my data to be stored for 30/40 years and wait till some real dictator gets access to that stuff. And this is personal stuff, i dont have to mention the economic espionage they did with Echelon before and ruined all kind of European contracts