Virtually 3 years ago exactly Geoff posted an articled entitled “Kinect IS spying on you” and today we get to post pretty much the same article but this time it is the PlayStation 4 that is doing the spying without your knowledge.
According to a neogaf post a user noticed that while he was playing a FIFA 14 versus game he noticed a microphone on the screen indicating that he was currently chatting but he hadn’t event connected his headset.
After some investigation it was uncovered that once the PS4 camera is plugged in then it will constantly listen for voice commands and at the same time it will transmit any sounds that it hears to whoever you are playing against.
After contacting PlayStation support he was told that there was no way to turn off this feature besides unplugging the camera entirely. They also could not confirm whether this was a bug that would be patched or a feature.
However thanks to the Internet at large we have found some ways to avoid this. The first is to create a party and then not invite anyone into it. The chat is still sent through but no one can hear it. The other is to disable voice commands for the camera and it will then no longer listen to you.
The last and most probably most simplistic is to connect a headset and then mute the headset which will stop the camera from listening to you. What we don’t know for sure however is whether or not the camera is also broadcasting video, this needs to be tested.
Thankfully I don’t work for Sony and can tell you that this is definitely a bug that I expect them to patch, if possible.
They will definitely need to iron out this kink before Prince William gets one. Can’t have that highly sensitive information about royal nappies being leaked to the public. Well, that is if the Duchess of Cambridge even lets him get one.
Last Updated: November 19, 2013
oVg
November 19, 2013 at 11:18
8th gen gaming
TiMsTeR1033
November 19, 2013 at 11:21
we are the BORG!
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 11:22
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Win.
That Dark Twit
November 19, 2013 at 11:23
LOL!
Captain GUZ
November 19, 2013 at 11:32
The Borg Collective will assimilate us all mwahahahahahah
Hammersteyn
November 19, 2013 at 11:37
I thought it was the master races space ship.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 11:38
Oh no. That thing is stealth
Captain GUZ
November 19, 2013 at 11:41
I remember modding my first case, jigsaw, cheap perspex and some LED’s
thought I was the sh!t
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 11:46
If only the ladies knew how cool we were.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 19, 2013 at 11:48
I think Tanya knows. She’s always flirting that one.
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 11:51
Yes, sadly.
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 11:38
Ahhh, is that why it looks like its been put together by a kleptomaniac technician?! BOOM!
Captain GUZ
November 19, 2013 at 11:39
Its called mods
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 11:40
Ahh, so also no class? I’m more on the rocker side of things, BOOM!
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 19, 2013 at 11:44
Yeehaaa…
Otto "Die Hond"
November 19, 2013 at 11:21
This explains this generation of consoles 😛
http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/apqN1jb_460sa.gif
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 11:22
Let’s him get one? You mean a nappy? BOOM!
That Dark Twit
November 19, 2013 at 11:23
“After some investigation it was uncovered that once the PS4 camera is
plugged in then it will constantly listen for voice commands and at the
same time it will transmit any sounds that it hears to whoever you are
playing against.”
Can imagine many awkward moments to happen to PS4 users. XD
TiMsTeR1033
November 19, 2013 at 11:26
many many awkward moments…
Bob the Zealot
November 19, 2013 at 11:25
This man called it from the start…
Captain GUZ
November 19, 2013 at 11:36
One does not simply turn off the microphone
Hammersteyn
November 19, 2013 at 11:27
Wait? People are actually buying the stupid camera?
TiMsTeR1033
November 19, 2013 at 11:28
Isn’t it a glorified Ps move camera? Ps move games were better than kinects in many ways.
HvR
November 19, 2013 at 11:37
That is what the Playstation support lady said.
FoxOneZA
November 19, 2013 at 11:34
It’s in T&C’s that Sony can drop in your life at any point.
Jump Out!
Gerhard Davids
November 19, 2013 at 11:40
This is a bigger problem than one would make it out to be.
Besides the personal invasion, we have consoles in the office for our leisure.
If the mic were to transmit anything while it is unexpected it could be a massive security risk for us. Sure we can disable the feature but in the end a software change could easily void your settings and Sony will just say “oops”. In the mean time sensitive data may have potentially leaked.
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 11:42
A very very good point. My boet works in advertising and the sometimes have consoles there for a laugh, imagine if the world knew about the new change to Black Cat peanut butter before it happened, we could have done something about it 🙁 ALAS
That Dark Twit
November 19, 2013 at 11:53
They changing Black Cat peanut butter!!??
Trololl
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 12:13
Careful! Least OVG hear you!
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 11:54
I don’t want to talk about the Black Cat debacle. I’m switching to YumYum or Skippy
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 12:14
Me too. I have a jar sitting right next to me man… I refuse to finish it…
ToshZA
November 19, 2013 at 12:18
What happened with Swart Kat?
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 12:37
They changes the cat man, they changed the cat! I looks like some manga abomination now!
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 12:40
And the packaging. I liked that they were in glass jars. Now they’re just cheap.
ToshZA
November 19, 2013 at 12:40
When did this happen? Because in stores and on their website its still the old logo.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 19, 2013 at 13:01
I’m fairly certain I saw the new margarine tub-style in PnP a couple of weeks ago.
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 13:02
Here man 🙁 Cry with me.
ToshZA
November 19, 2013 at 13:22
Aw man that’s so cute!!!
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 13:25
Sad is what it is.
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 13:40
You shut up you!
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 19, 2013 at 11:56
…
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 11:59
First time I refreshed and didn’t want to scratch out my eyes
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 12:02
The end is here!
Unavengedavo(aka. IceCreamMan)
November 19, 2013 at 12:03
Maybe I am just leading you guys into a false sense of security 😀
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 12:04
0-O
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 12:06
There it is
Captain GUZ
November 19, 2013 at 12:37
I refuse to click on any of your links unless someone else has vouched for it.
Just incase
Unavengedavo(aka. MadeYouLook)
November 19, 2013 at 12:40
But what if I team up with someone and have them vouch for it? What if I am planning the ultimate troll to have everyone fall victim to it? Even worse than Darryn’s meatspin debacle?
Captain GUZ
November 19, 2013 at 12:42
I will get my eye bleach and electro shock machine ready in that case
RinceandShrubbery
November 19, 2013 at 12:02
WOW! I don’t need a brain enema for the first time viewing one of your images!
Robert Hart
November 19, 2013 at 11:47
Well unless your office console in a fifa match while you have a meeting.. I dont think you have to worry!
Gerhard Davids
November 19, 2013 at 12:07
How so? It’s early days. We have no idea what the console dashboard is transmitting and where, we also have no idea if other titles will be needlessly transmitting audio. Even if not being played aloud on the other end, it may be transmitted to some external private entity.
The future implications can be hectic. At this point I’ll just suggest that we[at work] get one without the eye and likely skip the xbone as a whole.
Edit: To clarify. We have a very open culture. People will often sit on beanbags playing video games while people work and talk shop. Our meetings are rarely formal enough for a boardroom. So yes that may actually happen often.
Robert Hart
November 19, 2013 at 15:36
Perhaps on an office fibre line that could be an issue, but on a normal ADSL line you would very soon notice that your bandwidth is being used like a mad man by the uploading of all that footage.
I think it would be more likely that the NSA would spy using an Xbox, as MS is bound by U.S laws. Sony on the other hand is a Japanese company and the NSA would struggle to get in there.
Gerhard Davids
November 19, 2013 at 16:19
O O
You are completely missing it.
I do not have and NSA tinfoil hat on. Nor were we talking about video.
Voice can stream over ADSL quite comfortably without hogging bandwidth and many businesses have uncapped accounts so you wouldn’t easily see it chow.
The amount of sensitive audio that flies around an office daily is insane. But if that doesn’t worry you then no skin off your back. For cases like ours where it could cause multi-million dollar problems if information leaks, we will be pro-active and question things.
Robert Hart
November 19, 2013 at 16:45
Yet you do have a tinfoil hat on considering you are worried about someone spying on your through your console’s microphone 😉
Gerhard Davids
November 19, 2013 at 17:41
Edit: Fuck it.. If you can’t see past your narrow point of view then there is no point in speaking to you further.
Robert Hart
November 19, 2013 at 18:01
😉
SauRoN
November 19, 2013 at 11:45
Makes perfect sense that the microphone would be on as the next best device to pass audio to the system.
And finding out if it’s broadcasting video should be as simple as running it through a decent router with a Packet Filter log. But then again why would it bother doing that in the first place?
Paranoid hysteria.
Gavin Mannion
November 19, 2013 at 11:49
Why would it be passing audio down?
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 19, 2013 at 11:51
You were beat by a girl. hehehe
SauRoN
November 19, 2013 at 15:39
What?
John's (JJ's) Annihilation
November 20, 2013 at 08:09
Sauron was beat by a girl, just a little joke.
SauRoN
November 20, 2013 at 15:17
Which still doesn’t make any sense…no matter how little or how big it is.
Mathias
November 19, 2013 at 12:14
Funny thing is the fact that $ony deaviated the sheep’s attention from everything bad with the PS4 by bashing M$ until a couple of weeks left for launch. Clever bitches…
FoxOneZA
November 19, 2013 at 12:37
Sony are masters at PR. Metacritic ratings are showing the way which system has the better games. Just today there was a video released with Cerny trying to plug Knack lol.
ElimiNathan
November 19, 2013 at 12:42
One way to not get spied on. Get a PC
Pieter Kruger
November 19, 2013 at 15:39
Not worried at all. They picture quality is so grainy no one will recognize you! LOL!