It's not - but there's literally nothing technologically preventing it from doing that. It's one thing to put a device incapable of doing something into a room. It's something entirely different to put a device there with the promise that they won't abuse that power either by malice or error.

yes, but that's true of many other technologies as well. and while that doesn't alleviate such concerns, i think its clearly where the market's heading and (maybe naively) am not too concerned with it..

thinning back a few years, the idea that facebook could amass such volumes of personal data based on one's digital activity sparked much the same reaction. in deciding to use their service, there's a clear tradeoff between enjoying the benefits it provides and giving-up (and trusting them with) a lot of personal data - which, naturally, has potential for abuse.

technologies like this new kinect, as well as personal fitness monitors, google glass, smartwatches and other wearable technology, are just a continuation of that trend, now translated more to the physical realm.

it is definitely a leap, as the data being captured is more tangible and the ability to identify one based on it more real, but its still very much the same and feels like a natural evolution as we move more towards a world where everything is connected..

I share your concerns, but it's this also true of most laptops?

I keep a piece of tape over my camera, but there is nothing physically blocking the microphone.

One User Script you may want to install prevents the HTML5 voice input from being activated. It'll prevent HTML5-based browser voice-input if that's something you want, but it's worth considering if you don't need that function.

https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/110566

Thanks! That's a bit better.