Microsoft patents spying on you with your TV's camera and fining you if ...

Microsoft patents spying on you with your TV's camera and fining you if there are too many people watching.

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We should all write or sign a letter of protest to the U.S. Patent Office and to Microsoft for spying on us in this blatant invasion of our privacy by using our own TVs to spy on us.

-- Tom

 

lololololololol

not if i get a hold of a micro $oft Tv.
ill plug the camera permanently in to a dvd player 24\7 that just plays the same movie over and over and.

*

 

This sounds exactly like one of those patents filed under "Crazy, but True" that will be on a Top 10 list in the future. I don't see how they could legally enforce it. And anyone stupid enough to buy a TV with a camera in it probably deserves what they get.

 

I prefer to think that they patented it just to prevent others from introducing into reality this ridiculous system.

 

Just feed the camera a video loop of someone asleep in a cozy chair.

 

I think we often look at small little privacy invasions and say "This is a slippery slope, if people allow this what else will they allow?" In this case I can't imagine *anyone* going for it - I know lots of people who use Facebook, 4square, and Twitter but they hate the idea of having a Nielson TV box and this is by far worse.

I can't imagine society going for this one, no matter the trade.

 

People find this hard to imagine when numerous TVs on the market have built-in cameras and built-in Microsoft Skype support, even built-in facial recognition based features?! One example, scroll down through it:

http://www.samsung.com/us/2012-smart-tv/

It has been very obvious, for years now, that cable companies, TV manufacturers, and the big tech players are pursuing "smart" TV, set top boxes, etc in a serious way, that built-in cameras/mics would become increasingly common and possibly ubiquitous eventually, and that the cameras/mics would be used for both legitimate and dubious purposes. I know I've seen numerous articles in the mainstream tech space which explicitly discuss the use of cameras in TVs and/or set top boxes for purposes of controlling access to content, targeted advertising, etc. Most of which predated that patent application filed on April 26, 2011.

What percentage of consumers have rejected the modern cable boxes which report viewing activity to their cable provider? What percentage of consumers have rejected always on mobile devices with uncovered camera lenses while inside their home? What percentage of consumers are rejecting these "smart" TVs with various privacy issues?

Seems to me there are lots of "slowly boiling frogs" out there.

 

+1

now you know why i don't have a cam on my pc and will never have one.

if you like that then maybe you like the idea of the hack that re-enabled microphones and cams on computer tnx to a flash player bug.
don't know if its still possible but even if its not ill pass,as for the smart tv don't put that in my face....ill smash it in 2 sec with a sludge hammer.

 

I use a webcam on occasion but I unplug it when I'm done. Same applies to a microphone.

 

Just stick some blu-tac over the lens.....

 

Unless some want to have some one else watch there home made movie boing boing.

Black Electrical tape has more then 1 use.

 

So if after visiting the home of a new friend|neighbor a non-exhibitionist starts seeing personalized ads for products/services of interest to exhibitionists, that will be their clue

 

With more TVs being networked and never getting patches the last thing I want is a webcam attached to one.

 

if you like that then check out smart appliances.
seems the powers that be want to turn everything you own in your house in to a privacy invading weapon in order you better control you

and if you like that then check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JNFr_j6kdI

oo joy more spy technology.

took the words right out of my mouth,now all i need is something like that for computer software
source

 

People will do anything, as long as you do it gradually and you give them a piece of cheese to hide the trap. History has shown the manipulation of the masses is easy task. Fashion is the most common everyday phenomenon. A few that need to make money, convince the many to change completely clothing style or even life style, because they need to selll new goods to them. It's hilarious going back to time seeing how people arrived to do hilarious things only because they were "dictated" by fashion.

30 years ago, if someone told you that people would pierce themselves voluntarily, like some indigenous people in the jungle, you 'd call them crazy. Same for Big Brother reality shows. This year, in Scandinavia, they 've been showering nude in front of the cameras. Because once you get adapted to the idea of watching people inside a house as a "game", then moving further and putting the camera in the shower, becomes the next "reasonable" step. People are in reality not much different than Pavlov's dog. So you start with "no cameras in bath", you move to "cameras, but no explicit nude", to "who cares, let's show everything". That's how the people at the end accept everything.

When the whole internet was at the path of war when Intel wanted to put a unique serial on every CPU, if you were to say that in a decade, every application you have would try to phone home, your browser would come with ID, Office applications would want to save your documents in a remote server and even run the OS somewhere else, they 'd say you 've escaped a mad house.

The thing is: If you say "We will force you to run your OS from the cloud", it will cause reaction.

If you "prepare the ground" first ("lubrification"-lowering of resistance), with lesser things going to the cloud, then time will come, where you will say "We will now bring your OS to the cloud. Why? BEcause you won't need patches anymore, no time wasted to installations -we take care of that-, no BSODs, one installation for all your devices, etc. People will then accept it.

It's the same as RFID chips. First you tag the dog. Then you tag your ID card. Once you get accustomed to the idea, why not carrying a small tagged badge and lastly, you may as well do it the most practical way, since it's already always with you, so implant it under the skin. If you go from zero to "let's implant it", people will react. Easy does it. You must make gradual pressure, let the mind adapt and get used to the new reality, then push a little further and so on.