Comments on: They’ve got a TV eye on you http://futurismic.com/2009/08/14/theyve-got-a-tv-eye-on-you/ Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:03:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: S Jones http://futurismic.com/2009/08/14/theyve-got-a-tv-eye-on-you/comment-page-1/#comment-42702 S Jones Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:49:31 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=8595#comment-42702 I had the same reaction to Microsoft's Natal prototype XBox peripheral that was all the rage at the E3 gaming conference this year. (Link: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/06/e3-microsoft-live-blog/) Seen from a gamer's point of view it is near magic: Your body motions are tracked and you become the game controller without any gamepads/nunchucks/floorpads, etc. Like your example, it even recognizes you individually to customize game options, etc. How awesome is that ... until you put on your paranoid hat. Will it dawn on people that this is a networked camera (via the XBox) that doesn't just passively see an image of your room but knows who's there and what they are doing in 3D space? (_shivers_) Having just read Cory Doctorow's Little Brother where Xbox's are wielded as a Trojan horse of oppression (until they are hacked), it seems crazy stupid/naive to bring an all-seeing EyeToy into your living room. Still, I can see us inviting them in anyway but I hope they come with a clear and physical privacy convention such as a metal shutter. This is one case where a little trust-me-I'm-not-watching-you LED indicator just won't cut it. I had the same reaction to Microsoft’s Natal prototype XBox peripheral that was all the rage at the E3 gaming conference this year. (Link: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/06/e3-microsoft-live-blog/)

Seen from a gamer’s point of view it is near magic: Your body motions are tracked and you become the game controller without any gamepads/nunchucks/floorpads, etc. Like your example, it even recognizes you individually to customize game options, etc.

How awesome is that … until you put on your paranoid hat. Will it dawn on people that this is a networked camera (via the XBox) that doesn’t just passively see an image of your room but knows who’s there and what they are doing in 3D space? (_shivers_) Having just read Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother where Xbox’s are wielded as a Trojan horse of oppression (until they are hacked), it seems crazy stupid/naive to bring an all-seeing EyeToy into your living room.

Still, I can see us inviting them in anyway but I hope they come with a clear and physical privacy convention such as a metal shutter. This is one case where a little trust-me-I’m-not-watching-you LED indicator just won’t cut it.

]]> By: Rick York http://futurismic.com/2009/08/14/theyve-got-a-tv-eye-on-you/comment-page-1/#comment-42042 Rick York Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:37:47 +0000 http://futurismic.com/?p=8595#comment-42042 If they'll allow the state to treat them like criminals and, they continue to give companies their most personal information. why would they not invite the cable companies in to their homes? Go figure. If they’ll allow the state to treat them like criminals and, they continue to give companies their most personal information. why would they not invite the cable companies in to their homes?

Go figure.

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