Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Xbox One Will Be a Spy?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was fired up to unveil its new Xbox One gaming and entertainment console this week, but that enthusiasm didn’t seem to carry over to those in attendance at the launch event. Much of the post-event coverage has been lukewarm at best, with a couple of pieces trying to find highlights by discussing some of the new features that weren’t in the Xbox 360. It was a noble attempt, but the overall takeaway was relatively underwhelming.

Now, as the hype has died down and everyone has done their Monday morning quarterbacking, some  are starting to really sit down and see what this new console is really all about and what it is supposed to do when it hits store shelves later this year.

And one source recently found some patents that may already be integrated into the console, or will be in future software updates. How would you like your gaming console to be a spy?

Well, we might be stretching a little bit, but it seems that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is definitely looking to become central in the entertainment world within our living rooms – even to the point of controlling how much we watch and do with the console?

A recent report indicates that Microsoft has patents in place to watch what you watch and how much, plus also controlling the number of people that watch content on a single license, among other things.

For example, Xbox One will have some Xbox 360-type achievements for users that watch certain content and advertisements, which is obviously to incentivize those items being watched as often as possible – cue the advertising and marketing partners!

Also, the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Kinect 2 controller  will have Amazon-like DRM management systems on it that will monitor how many people are in the room to watch a certain piece of content, and if the Kinect sensor  notices too many bodies for the allowed license, it will then prompt the user to upgrade the license before allowing the viewing.

Also, while the Xbox One won’t  mandate an always-on connection to the Internet – something that has been a bother for consumers with other devices – the system is expected to require that it be connected to the Internet every 24 hours.

We don’t know what happens if a user goes more than 24 hours without connecting to the Internet. Is ther a self-destruct function?