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Microsoft Contractors Listened to Xbox Owners in Their Homes
Vice ^ | 08/21/19 | Joseph Cox

Posted on 08/23/2019 6:42:40 AM PDT by Enlightened1

Multiple contractors working for Microsoft explain how they listened to audio captured by Xbox consoles.

Contractors working for Microsoft have listened to audio of Xbox users speaking in their homes in order to improve the console’s voice command features, Motherboard has learned. The audio was supposed to be captured following a voice command like “Xbox” or “Hey Cortana,” but contractors said that recordings were sometimes triggered and recorded by mistake.

The news is the latest in a string of revelations that show contractors working on behalf of Microsoft listen to audio captured by several of its products. Motherboard previously reported that human contractors were listening to some Skype calls as well as audio recorded by Cortana, Microsoft’s Siri-like virtual assistant.

"Xbox commands came up first as a bit of an outlier and then became about half of what we did before becoming most of what we did," one former contractor who worked on behalf of Microsoft told Motherboard. Motherboard granted multiple sources in this story anonymity as they had signed non-disclosure agreements.

The former contractor said they worked on Xbox audio data from 2014 to 2015, before Cortana was implemented into the console in 2016. When it launched in November 2013, the Xbox One had the capability to be controlled via voice commands with the Kinect system.

Do you work as a contractor or employee for a tech giant? Did you used to? We'd love to hear from you. You can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on jfcox@jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Straight away, some users and commentators were concerned with the idea of Kinect listening to Xbox users, waiting for commands such as "Xbox on." Microsoft said in a statement at the time "Kinect...

(Excerpt) Read more at vice.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Conspiracy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: listened; microsoft; xbox
Do not think Microsoft limited this to your Xbox only.
1 posted on 08/23/2019 6:42:40 AM PDT by Enlightened1
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To: Enlightened1

In America, television watches you.


2 posted on 08/23/2019 6:43:38 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Enlightened1

Will catch a lot of people cursing at Fallout 76....


3 posted on 08/23/2019 6:44:46 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Enlightened1

Super Nintendo, classic NES and Atari 2600 forever!


4 posted on 08/23/2019 6:45:46 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: dfwgator

5 posted on 08/23/2019 6:46:17 AM PDT by Karma_Sherab
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To: dfwgator

Clue, set in the 1950s:

“J. Edgar Hoover is on your phone?”

“Why shouldn’t he be? He’s on everyone else’s.”

The 1960s ...

“Can’t talk now, you don’t know who might be listening.”

The 1970s and 80s ...

“Did you hear how they caught the boss?”

The 1990s ...

“I’m starting to worry about privacy.”

The Noughtys...

“Meh, encryption is too much trouble.”

The Teens ...

“Hey espionage device, when is the movie showing at Cinemark?”


6 posted on 08/23/2019 6:50:27 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Rurudyne

High five.


7 posted on 08/23/2019 7:02:43 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Enlightened1

And y’all thought things were bad with computers, when I was playing ‘red storm rising’, on my Tandy 1000!!


8 posted on 08/23/2019 7:06:02 AM PDT by Terry L Smith (.)
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To: Enlightened1

And y’all thought things were bad with computers, when I was playing ‘red storm rising’, on my Tandy 1000!!


9 posted on 08/23/2019 7:06:05 AM PDT by Terry L Smith (.)
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To: Enlightened1

And y’all thought things were bad with computers, when I was playing ‘red storm rising’, on my Tandy 1000!!


10 posted on 08/23/2019 7:06:06 AM PDT by Terry L Smith (.)
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To: Enlightened1

And y’all thought things were bad with computers, when I was playing ‘red storm rising’, on my Tandy 1000!!


11 posted on 08/23/2019 7:06:08 AM PDT by Terry L Smith (.)
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To: Enlightened1

Put your Xbox next to your TV, turn on Univsion, and crank the volume to 11. Problem solved.


12 posted on 08/23/2019 7:44:14 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: Enlightened1

“MOM! HOT POCKETS!”


13 posted on 08/23/2019 7:56:51 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Marathon runs of OTR crime shows.


14 posted on 08/23/2019 8:47:06 AM PDT by wally_bert (Hola. Me llamo Inspector Carlton Lassiter. Me gusta queso.)
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To: dfwgator

Mentioned also in a cheesy 70s Sci Fi movie about an opposite earth that looked just like 70s America.


15 posted on 08/23/2019 8:49:25 AM PDT by wally_bert (Hola. Me llamo Inspector Carlton Lassiter. Me gusta queso.)
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