Estimating Age With Kinect's 3D Camera To Filter Content

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Estimating Age With Kinect's 3D Camera To Filter Content

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 1, 2011 @03:41AM from the can-i-choose-what's-objectionable dept.

theodp writes "Hal in 2001: 'I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that [open the pod bay doors].' Kinect in 2011: 'I'm sorry, Dave Jr. I'm afraid I can't do that [tune in to the Spice Channel].' A Microsoft patent filing made public this week proposes to restrict access to TV, movies and video games by using a 3D depth camera to estimate viewers' ages based upon the dimensions and proportions of a person's body, such as head width to shoulder width, and torso length to overall height. For adults with short arms or other seemingly childlike proportions, settings can be overridden by someone with an administrator password."

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In reality... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-10-01 03:51 · Score: 1

"Junior, what is the admin password?"
1. Re:In reality... by artor3 · 2011-10-01 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  If you haven't noticed, the people having kids these days grew up on Nintendo and Windows. The technically oblivious parent meme may be on it's last legs.
2. Re:In reality... by Oligonicella · 2011-10-01 04:54 · Score: 1
  
  Unfortunately replaced by the psuedo-technical user who harasses you to tweak your system.
3. Re:In reality... by iamhassi · 2011-10-01 07:12 · Score: 1
  
  If you haven't noticed, the people having kids these days grew up on Nintendo and Windows.
  Nintendo didn't have an admin password (still doesn't), and Windows 95/98/ME crashed before it could get to login
  
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  my karma will be here long after I'm gone
4. Re:In reality... by iocat · 2011-10-01 10:12 · Score: 1
  
  The Wii does indeed have a parental admin password, which you can require before going on the shop, or playing M rated games. All major consoles have this type of functionality now.
  Wii Parental Controls
  Xbox 360 Parental Controls
  PlayStation 3 Parental Controls
  
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  Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
Can they reach the cables? by RyanFenton · 2011-10-01 03:51 · Score: 1

Unplug the 360(or future console), then plug the cable into the TV, and you're back to a regular TV, no password needed.
Ryan Fenton
1. Re:Can they reach the cables? by icebike · 2011-10-01 06:26 · Score: 1
  
  Right, and everyone is OK with putting a Camera in their living room, or bedroom.
  
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  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
2. Re:Can they reach the cables? by Tubal-Cain · 2011-10-15 19:25 · Score: 1
  
  Cable and Internet TV get to be a lot more racy than Broadcast. MS is planning to provide cable content through the XBox, so bill-payers just may decide to drop the cable box.
  And if they do that, the kids are going to circumvent the XBox to watch... what, exactly?
This begs the question... by idbeholda · 2011-10-01 03:52 · Score: 1

What happens if instead of accessing racy content, the user provides racy content to the Kinect? I would probably pull a Buffalo Bill/"Goodbye Horses" striptease and let nature take its course.
1. Re:This begs the question... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-10-01 04:11 · Score: 1
  
  Raises the question, not begs. Please be smart when posting here.
2. Re:This begs the question... by idbeholda · 2011-10-01 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  Can I beg to "raise your mom"?
3. Re:This begs the question... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-10-01 04:39 · Score: 1
  
  Give it up; the cause is lost. Prescriptivism rarely prevails, and the common, incorrect usage makes sense anyway.
4. Re:This begs the question... by martin-boundary · 2011-10-01 16:50 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong. The cause is never lost because language is fluid. Keep complaining and usage can change back again.
  Think about it. If usage were truly too hard to change, then it would never have become incorrect in the first place.
  Begging the question is a fallacy.
5. Re:This begs the question... by martin-boundary · 2011-10-01 19:59 · Score: 1
  
  Nice. Of course his point is lost in the sea of proper grammar he insists on using throughout while simultaneously attempting to convince people of its superfluousness.
6. Re:This begs the question... by sjames · 2011-10-02 08:55 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sorry Mr. Coward, your horse has died. There was nothing anyone could do...
Cardboard hacks by fragfoo · 2011-10-01 03:56 · Score: 3, Insightful

I imagine a kid making a silhouette of an adult with cardboard or something.

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Sig? Heil
1. Re:Cardboard hacks by RyanFenton · 2011-10-01 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  Better yet - using a conveniently available blow-up doll would be wonderfully ironic. Using the forbidden creepy doppelganger to access forbidden knowledge. :^)
  Ryan Fenton
2. Re:Cardboard hacks by Alworx · 2011-10-01 04:07 · Score: 1
  
  Even better, a blow up doll!!
3. Re:Cardboard hacks by Baloroth · 2011-10-01 04:21 · Score: 1
  
  Good luck making a flat-cardboard silhouette look human to a 3d camera.
  
  --
  "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
4. Re:Cardboard hacks by Baloroth · 2011-10-01 04:23 · Score: 1
  
  I rather think that if your kids have convenient access to a blow-up doll, the TV is going to be a pretty small problem by comparison.
  
  --
  "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
5. Re:Cardboard hacks by RyanFenton · 2011-10-01 04:40 · Score: 1
  
  Depends on what knowledge the parents consider 'forbidden'. Might be the lesser of evils for the child to attempt to use their "boxing buddy" (non-sexual blow-up figure) to allow them to see the science channels - but I'd expect a LOT of very interesting variations on that story.
  Ryan Fenton
6. Re:Cardboard hacks by fragfoo · 2011-10-01 05:45 · Score: 1
  
  Kinect is not a 3d camera. Unless the setup has several kinects but thats not the usual.
  
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  Sig? Heil
7. Re:Cardboard hacks by fragfoo · 2011-10-01 05:47 · Score: 1
  
  Better yet - using a conveniently available blow-up doll would be wonderfully ironic. Using the forbidden creepy doppelganger to access forbidden knowledge. :^)
  Ryan Fenton
  Have you ever seen a blow up doll? They usually are smaller than an adult =P
  
  --
  Sig? Heil
8. Re:Cardboard hacks by grumbel · 2011-10-01 05:54 · Score: 1
  
  Huh? Kinect is a 3D camera. It gives you a nice depth map along with the regular video picture and it should be able to easily pick out a flat cardboard from a full 3D human.
9. Re:Cardboard hacks by monkyyy · 2011-10-01 12:21 · Score: 1
  
  read the summery, its not based on size, other wise the kid could just walk closer to the tv
  
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  warning pointless sig
Christ. by swalve · 2011-10-01 04:07 · Score: 1

How about they just tell parents to do the dirty work of parenting their children? I am all for innovation, but can't they focus their genius on something more worthwhile?
1. Re:Christ. by hedwards · 2011-10-01 04:14 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I was wondering how they intend to handle problems related to individuals that look young. The current hardware is just not good enough for this to work, but even in the future if they manage to get it to see the people, I can't imagine it coping with teens that are heavyset with beards or people that look like they're teens even though they're adults.
  Ultimately, if even bouncers and police officers sometimes get it wrong, I'm not sure how we can hope that an electronic device is going to do any better.
2. Re:Christ. by Baloroth · 2011-10-01 04:18 · Score: 1
  
  Parents are too busy making money to spend on toys like Xbox 360s to care for their kids. So they want some of the toys to do it for them. And Microsoft is happy to take their money to help.
  
  --
  "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
3. Re:Christ. by Nursie · 2011-10-01 04:29 · Score: 2
  
  I thought that the inclusion of (usually optional) parental control settings was part of parenting, deciding whether your kids are ready for whatever's behind the lock.
  Or have you decided that when you spawn you're going to be around your kid 24/7 ?
4. Re:Christ. by Sperbels · 2011-10-01 04:40 · Score: 1
  
  I was wondering how they intend to handle problems related to individuals that look young.
  It's doubtful this would work the same way we identify youthfulness. It would probably look at something like the size of the head in proportion to the rest of the body. That would probably keep the number of false positives down. If if you are an adult who's that much out of proportion, you're probably too ugly to have kids anyway and you can just turn the feature off.
5. Re:Christ. by ScrewMaster · 2011-10-01 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  I was wondering how they intend to handle problems related to individuals that look young.
  It's doubtful this would work the same way we identify youthfulness. It would probably look at something like the size of the head in proportion to the rest of the body. That would probably keep the number of false positives down. If if you are an adult who's that much out of proportion, you're probably too ugly to have kids anyway and you can just turn the feature off.
  Either way, I predict an upswing in sales of wigs and fake mustache kits.
  
  --
  The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
6. Re:Christ. by Ironchew · 2011-10-01 06:24 · Score: 1
  
  While this is sold under the guise of easy parenting, I wouldn't be surprised if the real purpose of this feature is to silently collect demographic information for Microsoft or its advertising partners.
7. Re:Christ. by hedwards · 2011-10-01 07:22 · Score: 1
  
  Yes and if we didn't already have a viable alternative you'd have a point. Nothing is 100% effective, but something like this is just laughable. You're not going to ever have it get the degree of accuracy necessary for it to be useful without a hell of a lot more technology than a game console has. And certainly not with just a Kinect.
8. Re:Christ. by cptdondo · 2011-10-02 00:50 · Score: 1
  
  Yup. Not happening. At a guess my wife would be prohibited, while my 13 year old daughter would pass.
  I work with a woman in her 30s who regularly gets carded and accused of carrying fake ID. She has season tickets to a local college football team, and has been asked to leave because the guards suspect her of underage drinking.
  There's just too much variety in human body types and looks to work. Also, how is this thing going to work if the person is on the sofa under a blanket? Are we going to have to stand up and "assume the position" to watch TV now?
9. Re:Christ. by sjames · 2011-10-02 09:20 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sure little people everywhere will just love you for your remark.
10. Re:Christ. by Mr2001 · 2011-10-03 12:04 · Score: 1
  
  I thought that the inclusion of (usually optional) parental control settings was part of parenting, deciding whether your kids are ready for whatever's behind the lock.
  Covering up the parts of the world that make you uncomfortable is not parenting. Your kids will be exposed to that stuff whether you like it or not, so your job as a parent is to give them the knowledge and skills they need to understand it in context.
  
  --
  Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
This should go well by xclr8r · 2011-10-01 04:09 · Score: 1

With those that have the (dwafism) growth hormone deficiency gene. There is nothing like being told that you are not average. I also see stuff like fatheads (life size posters http://www.fathead.com/) being a popular circumvention devices.

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Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
1. Re:This should go well by artor3 · 2011-10-01 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, I'm sure parental controls will be enabled by default on every unit and unable to be turned off.
2. Re:This should go well by rvw · 2011-10-01 04:40 · Score: 1
  
  I also see stuff like fatheads (life size posters http://www.fathead.com/) being a popular circumvention devices.
  I think a RealDoll would be the best circumvention.
Hack already available! by MTO_B. · 2011-10-01 04:38 · Score: 1

In other news... Age verification is known to be overwritten by using one of these, giving the you full access: http://www.deal-cool.com/CustomerImgList/4544.htm
Re:Slashdot applications by mwvdlee · 2011-10-01 04:38 · Score: 1

Why would you want to lose the ability to get first post?

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hey junior by circletimessquare · 2011-10-01 04:47 · Score: 1

i am very impressed with your life size replica of me in lego bricks. however, i don't know why you positioned me facing the television

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intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
A better idea by Samantha+Wright · 2011-10-01 04:48 · Score: 1

Use the Kinect not for age detection, but identity verification. The adults who own the Kinect can see the mature content, the kids can't. No topical algorithms required. (Also, "head width to shoulder width" sort of, y'know, varies drastically between genders. Not a good metric to start from.)

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1. Re:A better idea by Belial6 · 2011-10-01 05:44 · Score: 1
  
  It also varies by nationality.
Re:Finally. Thank you! by oblom · 2011-10-01 05:00 · Score: 1

Amen brother.
Completely Off Topic But by MaizeMan · 2011-10-01 05:08 · Score: 1

Your sig line is awesome!
(Fellow biologist)
Re:This should have slashdot posters in a tizzy by cyber-vandal · 2011-10-01 05:28 · Score: 1

I hope you'll be clapping just as loudly if Bush Jr gets killed for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths he ordered.
trivial borderline cases by Tom · 2011-10-01 05:53 · Score: 1

I don't even worry about small or young-looking adults - the main problem with this kind of access restriction is that it may work nice for clear cases (your 9 year old son trying to access 18+ content). But it is guaranteed to fail when the required and real age are close together. Extreme case: You don't really look that much different one day before and one day after your birthday.
Another poster has come up with a really clever, simple, straightforward and - in regard to these kinds of problems - reliable solution here:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2455598&cid=37577718

--
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
fuck this technology by mr_bigmouth_502 · 2011-10-01 05:57 · Score: 1

this shit is clearly designed for irresponsible parents who don't know how to take care of their own kids.
Re:This should have slashdot posters in a tizzy by icebike · 2011-10-01 06:23 · Score: 1

I mean with 50% of slashtards thinking there is something wrong with killing terrorists.... Watch the horror as Microsoft trys to help parents limit what their kids watch on TV.
Watch with horror as yet another AC trots out yet another "Won't someone please think of the children post" in support of putting cameras in our living rooms.

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Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Farsighted individuals? by HockeyPuck · 2011-10-01 06:35 · Score: 1

If I don't have my reading glasses on, I've got to hold books/menus/iPads at arm's length. So I guess my head would look small... however, my 5yr old, who has much shorter arms, could hold the device right up to his head and make it look like he had a giant head...
1. Re:Farsighted individuals? by interval1066 · 2011-10-01 08:31 · Score: 1
  
  No. Distance to object and proportional ratios can be accurately gauged in the kinect and other motion control sensors. I'm not saying these gizmos can't be hacked, but not that way.
  
  --
  Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Tits or GTFO! by Alex+Belits · 2011-10-01 06:45 · Score: 1

THAT'S what I call the implementation of "Tits or GTFO!" in practice!
Too bad, it's completely useless for the stated purpose, just like everything coming from Microsoft.

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Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Anti discrimination lawsuit .. by formfeed · 2011-10-01 06:49 · Score: 1

.. coming in 3 , 2 ,1
Filed by a relative of baby face Nelson on behalf of all 20 somethings who still look like 14.
Re:This should have slashdot posters in a tizzy by icebike · 2011-10-01 07:29 · Score: 1

Can't stream feeds....
Famous Last Words.

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Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Feeding the advertising monster by airfoobar · 2011-10-01 07:34 · Score: 1

Maybe this is the first step towards targeted advertising technology for television...
Prediction ... by Tjp($)pjT · 2011-10-01 08:23 · Score: 1

Kids will be asking for hulk hands and tall foam cowboy hats ...

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- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
What if... by pongo000 · 2011-10-01 16:39 · Score: 1

...the administrator is an adult with short arms or other seemingly childlike proportions? Would this call for an administrator's adminstrator's password?
We are lucky we live in a world where the vast majority of patents never see the light of day. Thank (deity of your choice) this is one of them.
Re:Better yet by Hognoxious · 2011-10-01 21:04 · Score: 1

You mean Richard Stallman?

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Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Re:This should have slashdot posters in a tizzy by cyber-vandal · 2011-10-02 01:22 · Score: 1

In what way do you get to that point? Logic isn't your strong point it seems. Bush is responsible for a great many more civilian deaths than anyone in al Qaeda so by the "kill the murderer without a trial" rules he should be killed by someone from Iraq and you should be cheering that person on.
Girth Restrictions by jswinth · 2011-10-02 03:31 · Score: 1

"I'm sorry, you cannot watch the food network due to your current girth. How about we tune in Biggest Loser instead?"
Really? by DrChandra · 2011-10-03 05:53 · Score: 1

This won't work for elderly midgets.

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Words, words, words ... Buz, buz! - Hamlet, Act II, Scene II
Other Uses by foobsr · 2011-10-13 03:25 · Score: 1

Quote:
'"I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, "is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt. You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug.'
Phillip K. Dick, UBIK
CC.

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