German government says the Xbox One is a monitoring device

Here at TweakTown, we're bringing you every latest bit of information on the next-gen consoles, as that is going to be the war of all wars for technology in the coming years. We've seen the Xbox One unveiling event, written an article asking just what was Microsoft thinking, and had a massive article reporting that EA's Vice President said that the PS4 and Xbox One are a generation ahead of the fastest gaming PC on the planet.

What can trump all of this? The German government coming out and stating that the Xbox One is a monitoring device. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner for Berlin, Peter Schaar, has said "Under the heading, game device 'Microsoft pushes a monitoring device in the market. The Xbox continuously records all sorts of personal information about me. Reaction rates, my learning or emotional states. The are then processed on an external server, and possibly even passed on to third parties. Whether they will ever deleted, the person can not influence".

This isn't far fetched, as the Xbox One has a camera built-in and is built to capture and recognize the face of its users. Microsoft are pushing the Xbox One as an all-in-one entertainment system, that can be voice and gesture controlled. Consider the fact that the Xbox One can be turned on by a voice command, meaning that the microphone on the Xbox One is always listening, always waiting.