It's extremely difficult to remove the microphone from any of those things.
Oh, to be clear I mostly meant removing the mic on a laptop. And it's pretty easy to open a laptop, just takes some screwdrivers. Or you can take a pin and stab the microphone until it no longer functions. No extreme difficulty here.
It's possible to have a software based microphone coded into whatever operating system. Speakers can also be used as a microphone. There is software out there that can record sound without any actual microphone.
Your computer and phone are big balls of blind faith in software/firmware.
My computer doesn't have a webcam or mic plugged in all the time pointed at my living room.
Your computer or phone doesn't need a conventional microphone to record sound. They could very easily be hidden in software, or by anything that can detect vibration. Not that I'm worried about a console doing this anyway.
Stop spreading privacy FUD. Kinect can be controlled and disabled. http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/privacy
Ok, so I was wrong on one of the 3. It still cannot be removed or turned off. It can be disabled by software which we have to trust is really disabling it.
Do people really not trust that it wouldn't actually be disabled if you disabled it? Can the paranoid not just put a piece of tape over the lens, or point it at a wall?
Reposting my earlier comment on the other thread that went off front page: They should rename the Xbox One to the Xbox 180, it would be a perfect name! On a more serious note, I don't like this rollback. It only goes to show how the witchhunt and echo chamber on Reddit worked. Even before the reveal, Microsoft was falsely accused of trying to game Reddit and everyone flew off the handle over someone pretty much lying…
>On a more serious note, I don't like this rollback. It only goes to show how the witchhunt and echo chamber on Reddit worked.
It seems like you haven't considered that the echo chamber is right on this one. DRM is a cancer on the industry and every attempt to fight it back is worth it. You make points that the DRM could lead to potential benefits, no one is disputing that. Simply put, with the way it was, I was never going to buy an Xbox, now I might consider it. I can't stand the trend these days where the consumer owns nothing and controls nothing. This is capitalism at work, nothing else. It seems like a win for consumer rights and a win for Microsoft. Your post seems like a reactionary post lambasting the reactionary posts on reddit.
Software disabling is little use when the issue only exists because of a lack of trust in the software (ie NSA co-operation).
> ie NSA co-operation This is so ridiculous it's not worth talking about. The chances of snooping due to the console being hacked are slightly higher, but where are all the people complaining that most laptops, tablets, and phones (which generally have significantly less software security) have built-in software controlled cameras and microphones? Laptops usually have indicator lights for cameras, but not microphones…
> Laptops usually have indicator lights for cameras
But doesn't that just mean you have to trust the light? I mean this does indeed seem rather ridiculous. If you're really that paranoid, a piece of masking tape will solve your problem.
What has Microsoft done to compete with the Sony rootkit? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootki...
I'm not sure if you've heard about this, but I heard that Microsoft created a near-ubiquitous OS that was so insecure that it allowed rootkits to be installed via music CD!
>created a near-ubiquitous OS that was so insecure that it allowed rootkits to be installed..
For a second I thought you were referring to Google.
The same company also created a console that wasn't hacked like its biggest rival for 8 years and still counting. Not to mention highly secure phone OS and tablet OS.
If you think a general purpose OS can prevent rootkits, you're mistaken. There exist full featured rootkits for OS X and Linux too.
Secure boot was a step in a good direction to prevent some rootkits, but alas, that gets shot down by internet rage too.
> ie NSA co-operation This is so ridiculous it's not worth talking about. The chances of snooping due to the console being hacked are slightly higher, but where are all the people complaining that most laptops, tablets, and phones (which generally have significantly less software security) have built-in software controlled cameras and microphones? Laptops usually have indicator lights for cameras, but not microphones…
> Laptops usually have indicator lights for cameras But doesn't that just mean you have to trust the light? I mean this does indeed seem rather ridiculous. If you're really that paranoid, a piece of masking tape will solve your problem.
> But doesn't that just mean you have to trust the light?
This problem is solved by having the power to the camera hardwired to the light. If the camera is on the light will be on, well until the led burns out but that takes a while.
Last I checked and my model of macbook has this but I do not know how common it is over all.
I do not think this is common practice for microphones and it seems like it should be.
Oh, to be clear I mostly meant removing the mic on a laptop. And it's pretty easy to open a laptop, just takes some screwdrivers. Or you can take a pin and stab the microphone until it no longer functions. No extreme difficulty here.
It's possible to have a software based microphone coded into whatever operating system. Speakers can also be used as a microphone. There is software out there that can record sound without any actual microphone.
I would really like more details about this software.
As of earlier today the Xbox One was the number 1 product on Amazon, two spots ahead of the PS4. I'd say that's a decent indicator of actual consumer sentiment.
The PS4 has been number one on that chart for most of the past week, despite being split up into multiple launch bundles. (I think yesterday was the first time the Xbox had reached number one since E3.) I've been checking that list, and it's my main evidence for the fact that consumers have actually been favoring Sony so far.
Microsoft is advertising the Xbox on the 360 dashboard with the preorder pointing to Microsoft Store, same with the emails they sent to every Xbox Live user, while the PS3 is primarily bought on Amazon, so it is hard to make predictions now.
> ie NSA co-operation This is so ridiculous it's not worth talking about. The chances of snooping due to the console being hacked are slightly higher, but where are all the people complaining that most laptops, tablets, and phones (which generally have significantly less software security) have built-in software controlled cameras and microphones? Laptops usually have indicator lights for cameras, but not microphones…
> Laptops usually have indicator lights for cameras But doesn't that just mean you have to trust the light? I mean this does indeed seem rather ridiculous. If you're really that paranoid, a piece of masking tape will solve your problem.
In theory, the hardware should be designed so that it's impossible to use the camera without turning on the light, so it would require the device manufacturer to be malicious in advance, which is even less likely. Of course, there could be bugs, but it shouldn't be hard to design such a feature correctly. (Note that since there are cases of people being spied on by their laptop webcams, as mentioned elsewhere on the thread, but always with the light on, it would be quite a serious issue if someone discovered a way to disable the light.)