Microsoft: You'll have control over privacy with Xbox One Kinect

As part of a series of blog posts it published today, Microsoft greatly clarified the interaction between Xbox One users and the included Kinect camera, and the extent to which the Kinect can be disabled -- and what it does with the data it senses. The camera -- which will be required for the Xbox One to function, according to Microsoft -- can be disabled, the company has now stated. "If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect," the blog post explains. To operate the console, instead of Kinect, "you can use a controller, your remote controls or your smart devices instead. And you can use all of these devices when Kinect is paused." More importantly, according to the company, when the Xbox One is powered down, the Kinect is "only listening for the single voice command -- 'Xbox On,' and you can even turn that feature off too." Most importantly, writes the company, "When Xbox One is on and you’re simply having a conversation in your living room, your conversation is not being recorded or uploaded." Any data that applications monitor via Kinect -- such as visual or biometric data -- "will not leave your Xbox One without your explicit permission," Microsoft now says. Upon initial configuration of the Xbox One system, the blog post says, "The system will navigate you through key privacy options, like automatic or manual sign in, privacy settings, and clear notifications about how data is used." In other words: you can tell the system to disable the Kinect for all purposes except games that require it for input, according to the blog post. Today's Microsoft announcements also covered the Xbox One's preowned games policy and its online requirements.