Microsoft has detailed how the Xbox One’s Kinect will use any data it collects during play. Xbox One owners are advised details about your appearance gleaned from Kinect’s facial recognition technology will be totally private, but are also reminded not to expect any level of privacy while chatting over the service.
In order to use the camera to sign you in, Kinect “measures distances between key points on your face to create a numeric value that represents only you.” This information stays on your console and is not shared. The value itself is stored as a “very long set of numbers” and, according to Microsoft, “[n]o one could look at the numbers and know they represent you.”
For gameplay purposes, Kinect will map the distances between your body’s joints to create a stick figure. The numeric values for your stick figure are temporarily stored in memory on your console during a gameplay session but are destroyed when you quit the session.
If you’re playing online “Microsoft may collect those numeric values to enable and improve gameplay and improve the gaming experience” but the values sent to Microsoft are “destroyed after analysis is complete.” The company notes you will not be able to be identified by your stick figure representation.
Some game titles may allow you to use defined facial expressions to control or influence a game. Microsoft explains this data stays on the console and is destroyed once your session ends. It cannot be used to identify you, according to the company.
Microsoft asserts players control what happens to photographs taken during gameplay and whether voice commands are captured for analysis.
In terms of voice chat, however, the privacy statement advises users they “should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features such as voice chat, video and communications in live-hosted gameplay sessions offered through the Services.” Microsoft says it may monitor communications “to the extent permitted by law, but we cannot monitor the entire Service and make no attempt to do so.” The company reminds users that other players could record and use your communications on Xbox Live and your “[c]ommunications in live-hosted gameplay sessions may also be broadcast to others.”
Players are also advised that, when playing multiplayer on Xbox Live, “any player in that session can use GameDVR to record their view of the gameplay taking place in that session.” This recording may capture your in-game character and gamertag, says Microsoft, but no audio chat is recorded in these game clips.
Microsoft stressed that Xbox does not listen in on Skype calls.
The company reiterated Kinect can be turned off at any time; saying “Kinect Off” will turn off the Kinect sensor, or you can simply unplug it from the console. You can also “delete all the Kinect data you have cached on the console by going to Settings and selecting ‘Reset my Kinect data’ or by removing your profile from that console.”
