Microsoft wants concerned gamers to know that its next-generation console won’t be a Stalk Box. In a statement given to Kotaku, an unnamed Microsoft spokesperson said that the new console’s Kinect sensor will have “simple, easy methods to customize privacy settings” and will “provide clear notifications and meaningful privacy choices for how data will be used, stored and shared.” The representative also said that users have the option to turn off the new Xbox completely and that the Kinect sensor wouldn’t keep tracking you even if you turned the power off.
All that said, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. As Kotaku notes, it’s not clear if users can get away with blocking or obscuring the Kinect sensor from watching them if they still want to play games. What’s more, Microsoft hasn’t yet provided any details about what it will do with all the data that Kinect records of users’ behavior in their living rooms. Instead, the Microsoft spokesperson simply said that “we know our customers want and expect strong privacy protections to be built into our products, devices and services, and for companies to be responsible stewards of their data” while adding that the company would fill in the blanks on privacy questions at a later date, most likely at the E3 gaming convention in June.
