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Will Microsoft Dis-Kinect Freeloading TV Viewers?
theodp writes "Just when you think the cable TV viewing experience couldn't get any worse, GeekWire reports on the Microsoft Xbox Incubation team's patent-pending Consumer Detector, which uses cameras and sensors like those in the Xbox 360 Kinect controller to monitor, count and in some cases identify the people in a room watching television, movies and other content. Should the number of viewers detected exceed the limits of a particular content license, the system would halt playback unless additional viewing rights were purchased."
Over the camera should solve the problem.
I am enthusiastic about Microsoft's apparent desire to increase illegal copying.
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The best way to keep this technology out of your homes is to refuse to purchase it.
I'm just surprised Sony didn't come up with it first.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
...guess I'll have to move out of my hall of mirrors. "You are licensed for two viewers...we show 185 currently watching this program."
next?
auto pause when nobody is watching.
Note: advertisements can not be skipped, advertisements are mandatory.
You do not want to fight your customers!
Typical dual use technology
Multinational megacorp : 1984 is closer every year, lets monitor and track and dehumanize, all to protect us from terrorists and "Its For The Children(tm)" and we'll purchase govt legislators to legislate our profits into perpetuity and damn the peons, some citizens like corporations are more equal than other citizens like meatbags
Open source mythtv implementation : webcam detects wife entering the room, automatic hands off instant channel change from "Naughty Cheerleaders Car Wash 2012" to "CSPAN". I'm actually kinda surprised no one has implemented this yet. With all the video processing being done in VDPAU the CPU needs something to do to keep warm in the winter, and webcams are cheap, and prototype open source cam monitoring software already exists so ...
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
With the caveat that the customers are the advertisers, and the people who watch are just there to keep the seats warm and bump the Nielsen ratings.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That idea is actually worth another patent, if only to stop companies actually implementing it.
I write software patents for a living. (I didn't write this one.) Let me describe how the patent drafting process goes.
A client comes to me with a simple invention - we'd like to do (A), (B), and (C) to achieve result (X). I talk to them at length about what (ABC) is, and what critically sets (ABC) apart from every similar example. I ask questions about how each of (A), (B), and (C) could be varied; what other elements (D), (E), and/or (F) could be added; and whether (ABC) could also be used for results (Y) or (Z).
And when I write up the patent application, EVERYTHING goes in there. (ABC) is described as the base invention, but all of the other material about (D), (E), (F), (X), (Y), and (Z) is also included as optional extensions or uses of (ABC).
Now, here's the critical thing: I haven't fully considered whether (D) is a desirable feature, or whether (Y) is a desirable result. My client doesn't even know, or says, "we don't really intend to implement (D) or do (X)." None of that is relevant. All that matters is: They are all logical, valid extensions of (ABC), so, typically, they all go in. Anything that could make the basic technique more valuable, appear more useful, or might more fully distinguish (ABC) over known techniques is helpful to add to the specification.
I read this patent the same way. The basic invention is: "Use a camera to count and identify people interacting with a device." Now, you can't just stop there - you haven't said what that information might be used for, and the patent office typically rejects applications that look like, "The technique is: Generate some data." So the patent discloses several uses of that information. That doesn't mean that Microsoft has any interest in using that technique - only that it's logically achievable from the basic techniques.
Look, we all agree that technology is neutral, right? For example, DRM has been *used* for lots of obnoxious purposes (including limiting fair-use rights), but the basic technology of DRM is neither good nor bad - it just is. The same principle applies here.
Computer over. Virus = very yes.
next?
auto pause when nobody is watching.
Note: advertisements can not be skipped, advertisements are mandatory.
You do not want to fight your customers!
At last! A legitimate use for my RealDoll.
She can watch the ads while I take a bathroom break.
It's always no.
In other words, Betteridge's law of headlines describes trolling by the writer or publisher rather than a commenter.
if it were not literally true, in this case.
I remember that some years ago, somebody came up with another brilliant idea: Have the TV sets locked on to a particular channel when the ads are shown, and ignore anything the user does with the remote control. Return control to the user only after the ads are finished.
And to top it off, the new "feature" included an "upgraded" service, where the user will pay extra to have the channel lock removed. Patented ransomware.
What they did not take into account, is that people who were unknowingly buying such a thing were going to return them to the store in droves, declaring the units defective.
This move simply smacks of desperation from M$ after their blah launch of Win8 and the Surface tablet (plus the obligatory Apple and Google tablet launches around the same time)
Indeed. If you do not own a car, you don't need to buy car insurance. For the most part, leasing counts as 'owning'. Renting(IE the registration isn't in your name) is generally handled as a rider on the rental agreement - for like $10 they give you insurance.
It gets even more complicated - you can own a car, and as long as it never touches a public street you can leave it unregistered and uninsured, and drive it without a license; while drunk. I just wouldn't suggest getting into an accident with it, because the liability would remain.
I don't read AC A human right