The Kinect made by Microsoft is being used to monitor the Korean border since August of last year. The program used for the Kinect was created by Jae Kwan Ko who is a South Korean programmer. The device is monitoring the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
The software is designed to detect the difference between humans and animals. Once it detects a human it sends an alert to he nearest guard. Ko claims a newer version of the software will be able to detect heart rates and heat. These updates will probably come when they use the Xbox One’s Kinect since it’s able to detect heart rates and heat with its more advance technology.
This makes me wonder how easy it could be for someone to hack into the Xbox and Xbox One’s Kinect and sees what you’re doing. It might be as easy as hacking into a computers camera, but the Kinect can do more than see you. It will be able to record your heartbeat and scan your body in better detail than an average computer camera. If this technology is available to citizens, then what is available to the government? There must be companies out there trying to sell this type of technology to our cities so they can watch over us, and control crime. There are cameras around major cities like in Boston since that’s how they identified the bombers during the marathon. Most of these cameras are operated by people and don’t have the technology to identify each person, but how much longer will it be till they install such equipment.