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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."
"No one is watching. Guess I'll turn off then."
rewriting history since 2109
I am enthusiastic about Microsoft's apparent desire to increase illegal copying.
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Today's my turn to watch the movie without wearing the burqa!
...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."
Huxley, not Orwell. No one is forced to own/watch television.
You can bet your ass at some stage this will lead to your wife asking: "Why are you jerking off to C-SPAN?"
> no, yes, maybe (tagging beta)
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.
Tampering detected, TV shuts off and you're fucked.
Fuck that, I've heard of this new show called "Outside", and you don't even need a TV to watch it. It's in super HD and it even has some sort of temperature generators, so hot stuff feels hot and cold stuff feels cold. Take that Hollywood 3-D!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
In Capitalist America, Television watches you!
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
If it comes to the point that I have to do this just to watch a movie, I think I'll just opt out altogether and play my guitar while I watch my oscar swim around his tank.
The Kinect has (and would probably use for identification anyways) an infrared camera. I doubt a photo would work on that very well. Better idea is just don't use the damned XBox for movies if it does this.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Stop presenting sensible alternatives!
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)
Heat the room to 36 degrees centigrade and make everyone invisible?