Kinect "hackers" won't be prosecuted

By Fred Dutton Published 22 November, 2010

Microsoft "excited" by user mods.

Microsoft has softened its approach to alleged hackers tampering with its Kinect hardware, insisting it had intended users to get creative with its new gadget all along.

Earlier this month, following news that one user had managed to hack into Kinect and get it running on a PC, Microsoft had issued a draconian pledge to "work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."

Speaking to NPR last week, Microsoft's director of incubation Alex Kipman and Microsoft Games Studios' Shannon Loftis clarified what they defined as "hacking" and reined in threats to start throwing law suits around.

"The first thing to talk about is Kinect was not actually hacked," insisted Kipman.

"Hacking would mean that someone got to our algorithms that sit on the side of the Xbox and was able to actually use them, which hasn't happened. Or it means that you put a device between the sensor and the Xbox for means of cheating, which also has not happened.

"That's what we call hacking, and that's why we have put a ton of work and effort to make sure it doesn't actually occur."

"What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection, which we didn't protect by design, and reads the inputs from the sensor, "he continued.

"The sensor again, as I talked earlier, has eyes and ears and that's a whole bunch of, you know, noise that someone needs to take and turn into signal."

So, Microsoft had always intended Kinect's drivers to be freely accessible? "Yeah. Correct," claimed Kipman.

And nobody is going to get in trouble for utilising them? "Nope. Absolutely not," promised Kipman.

Loftis then explained that Microsoft had actually been looking on with interest at user modifications.

"As an experienced creator, I'm very excited to see that people are so inspired that it was less than a week after the Kinect came out before they had started creating and thinking about what they could do."

So there you have it. First one to create a sentient cybernetic organism wins a cookie.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Lord_Gremlin #1 2 years ago

    Microsoft... Always trying to make fail look like win. Pathetic.

  • Fab4 #2 2 years ago

    Achievement Unlocked: Backtracking (30pts)

  • Bander #3 2 years ago

    Similar to Live Vision and the wired 360 controllers then.

    Any news on when XNA developers get access to Kinect as a controller? I imagine being able to use it with a PC should help with software development there.

  • lordofthedunce #4 2 years ago

    Users 'executed' by Microsoft mods

  • zoidberg #5 2 years ago

    @Lord_Gremlin

    Did you READ the article? He does make some sense.

    Hacking: cheating at games and/or using Xbox-side Kinect tech without authorization.
    What's actually happened: Someone plugged the Kinect into the PC, wrote a driver and used the camera (without Xbox-side Microsoft copyrighted NOT open-source algorithms).

    READ before starting a fanboy war.

  • laharl80 #6 2 years ago

    Well, considering Microsoft have had to resort to paying people to buy Kinect, bans weren't very likely.

  • Distributor #7 2 years ago

    laharl80: source?
    Edited by Distributor at 22/11/10 @ 17:59

  • Fab4 #8 2 years ago

    He should learn the difference between 'cracking' and 'hacking'.

  • Sonic_D #9 2 years ago

    Well I'm not surprised. At this rate I'm more likely to buy Kinect to use on my PC with open source software than for gaming on the 360. I'm sure M$ recognise that.

  • Dizzy #10 2 years ago

    Xna is not getting kinect support for now, sorry.

    I am sure it will get it eventually, but don't expect it the first 6 months.

  • menage #11 2 years ago

    Well, even if it wasn't by design the attitude is still preferable the other options.

  • laharl80 #12 2 years ago

    Source - http://n4g.com/news/650477/kinect-so-goo...
    Or google it. Its on every website except eurogamer.

  • CrispyXUK64 #13 2 years ago

    Under what grounds were they planning on prosecuting them anyway?

  • Distributor #14 2 years ago

    laharl80: Oh yeah the japanese launch. That doesnt matter really, I thought you were talking of US or europe. Kinect, xbox or anything Microsoft wont sell in Japan, paid for or not.

  • infernox1 #15 2 years ago

    it has more potential on the pc anyway

  • thebuttonz #16 2 years ago

    'wins a cookie'... epic win :D

  • Zaiz #17 2 years ago

    @laharl80

    Brilliant! Now we can make an argument that the iPhone is so unpopular that people are being paid to buy it!

    Err, yeah, your source is bad and this isn't Microsoft making a media farce(the media making a farce!), this is Microsoft doing what other corporations do. Selling a product with a more likable person than your average over-excited gamer with poor hygiene who got in line a day early.

  • laharl80 #18 2 years ago

    @Zaiz
    Sony weren't paying people to pretend to buy Move in Europe and America.
    For the record, i've tried Kinect and own Move and don't particularly like either.
    I'm a dualshock fanboy.

  • thubie #19 2 years ago

    @Zaiz

    The microsoft hate is big right now.
    Can understand it the core gamers feel abandoned because of all the kinect stuff they are promoting.

    But really paying that guy that already has a made a name for himself to be the person to rent a crowd for.
    Heck they call him Big wave or something even apple hired him.

  • Bander #20 2 years ago

    The man being paid to buy Kinect in Japan story is just speculation at best, given the reputations of where it came from (2chan via Sankaku Complex). How can that really exist as an occupation?

  • funkateer #21 2 years ago

    I'd say this is a perfectly reasonable explanation by Microsoft.

  • DVR #22 2 years ago

    @laharl, so basically Kinect is as popular as the iPhone then :p False dichotomies FTW

    With regards to the actual article, I think it is refreshing to see a hardware manufacturer taking an interest in what the wider community can make of the product it produces. Hopefully innovation in the wider community will translate to innovation within the development community. Win Win for everyone :)

  • laharl80 #23 2 years ago

    @Raining_Upwards
    But yours is the first vitriolic comment on this board.

  • gjgjg #24 2 years ago

    I think ms know that these kinds of cracks/hacks etc push new ideas to the market place a lot quicker than a closed approach (eg apple).
    +1 ms on this one

    'wins a cookie'
    Cookies disabled, builds bunker waiting for august 29th judgement day... What year was that again? ;)

  • Stop-gap #25 2 years ago

    "Cheating" he says. I'm trying to work out in what ways you could "cheat" at a Kinect game, make it think you can gesture 10 times faster than the average human? Surely the game itself would dismiss it as some sort of sensor glitch? In a system designed to capture human gestures/motion I imagine the software would dismiss the sudden discovery of people who move at lightning speed as bad data. Then again, maybe not :p

    edit - spelung gud
    Edited by Stop-gap at 22/11/10 @ 23:12

  • Noble6 #26 2 years ago

    Impressed MS

  • Dave52 #27 2 years ago

    9th November:
    "We strongly encourage customers to use Kinect for Xbox 360 with their Xbox 360 to get the best experience possible."

    22nd November:
    "As an experienced creator, I'm very excited to see that people are so inspired that it was less than a week after the Kinect came out before they had started creating and thinking about what they could do."

  • makeamazing #28 2 years ago

    These are not people i would call hackers, all they have done is create a driver for the device to work on PC.... i dont particularly like the fact they are using the term hacker. Also MS have backtracked because there is no way these people would be prosecuted... its a pretty stupid notion...

  • Dr_Wadd #29 2 years ago

    Given what has been done with Kinect I found it rather amusing that the BBC's coverage was using the word "hack" in its original sense. However, I'm assuming it was an accident. This is totally a hack.

  • Fab4 #30 2 years ago

    What they are doing is hacking though. What the MS describes, about encryption etc would require cracking. Hacking is the modification of a program or device to perform in a way not envisaged by the original designers/owners.

  • KayTannee #31 2 years ago

    Its a fair enough move.

    Ever since Microsoft let the MechWarrior : Living Legends team use the Copywrite to Mech Warrior for a mod. My disdain for them has significantly shifted.

    Only thing I'm pondering, is why someone needs to write PC Drivers for it anyway? I thought microsoft were mean't to be releasing them anyway? I want Kinect for my Media Center damit!

  • oerhoert #32 2 years ago

    Hacking = love + programming.

    These guys might be hackers, but that's hardly an accusation at all. In fact, I'd say it's a badge of honor, at least with me.

  • makeamazing #33 2 years ago

    What they are doing is hacking though. What the MS describes, about encryption etc would require cracking. Hacking is the modification of a program or device to perform in a way not envisaged by the original designers/owners.

    @Fab4, I appreciate that is the correct terminology and correct use, but these days Hacker is usually a negative term, for someone who reverse engineers/hacks into something for their own profit/gain/destructive purposes. If these guys had reversed engineered it and it would make MS lose money in some way then i would be perfectly fine, but its not (as far as its been reported), so i don't consider this as much of a problem, therefore i kind of don't like the term :D

    I guess its all semantics in the end :D but anyway, glad MS have stepped back a little from the evocative language.

  • laharl80 #34 2 years ago

    @oerhört
    A badge of honour to be the cause of price hikes, constant firmware updates, and a source of disruption and annoyance?
    Hackers should be next to pirates up against a wall.

  • Skurmedel #35 2 years ago

    laharl80: What a gigantic generalization. I'm sure there is code in most major operating systems written by people who once called themselves or were called hackers. The negative connotation is not the original one.

    And how does price hikes even come into the picture?
    Edited by Skurmedel at 22/11/10 @ 21:22

  • funkateer #36 2 years ago

    @laharl80
    What Skurmedel said...

  • Wyrm #37 2 years ago

    If they wanted this to be open to the community and bring out a budding PC mod scene, why didn't they release their own PC drivers for it and publicise the fact that Kinect was intended to be used however the user could program it. Maybe because they didn't actually intend this at all? Perhaps? But they see the cool stuff people are doing, the free marketing, and think it's great!

  • Zaiz #38 2 years ago

    @laharl80

    The word you are looking for is cracker, not hacker. At least if you are going to talk in coding context. Technical terms, get em' straight.

    Oh, and pleaaase cut out your silliness. Your source is bad, don't try to save face by making other random accusations.

  • stegabba #39 2 years ago

    microsoft dont care what the fuck you do with kinect aslong as you buy it

  • TAPNGO #40 2 years ago

    why would a company push a product and make money its dumb, how dare they let hackers hack they're product, take it, then release an update. These companies are getting outrageous trying to make money, I'm outraged!!!!!!!:).

  • Sid-Nice #41 2 years ago

    I've been messing around with Kinect on my PC; I've found it very difficult to see my monitor from 6' away. Hopefully some clever geeks will create a firmware upgrade to rid us of the lag.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #42 2 years ago

    Serious question, is releasing open source drivers that contains completely original code actually a prosecutable offence?

  • Jacksie66 #43 2 years ago

    Im here in Australia at the moment (goin home to Ireland soon yayyyy), but Ive been hearin that the Kinect doesnt recognise the Australian accent. The xbox prob cant understand 'Xbox off maaatee while i greb miii a beeeeerrra'.

  • smelly #44 2 years ago

    >Microsoft "excited" by user mods.


    .. they might actually make some decent software for the thing.

  • Hermiod #45 2 years ago

    @Shakey_Jake33 - No as long as it's entirely original work.

    Ignoring the open source part for a moment, the entire PC industry is based on this. Somebody figured out the specifications for the BIOS for the first IBM PC and wrote a completely original replacement BIOS that did exactly the same job. As a result, it was possible for companies like Compaq to buy the same off the shelf parts and make computers that could run the same software IBM PC's did.

    And Microsoft were there to sell all these manufacturers operating systems.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #46 2 years ago

    "Cheating" he says. I'm trying to work out in what ways you could "cheat" at a Kinect game,

    You plug Kinect into a PC, you plug the PC back into the xbox via USB.

    On the PC, you set up a video soundboard, something like Subservient Chicken that plays back a set of recorded depth/colour videos of people doing perfect Dance Central steps to the Xbox.

    You then unlock achievements or win multiplayer games by just playing back videos in sequence rather than playing properly.

    Microsoft certainly don't want that sort of thing giving Kinect a Counterstrike aim-bot type reputation, so they'll try and stamp it out, just like Valve and the wider counterstrike community have done (although I can't say what the state of CS cheating is like these days).
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 23/11/10 @ 09:23

  • SEVQA #47 2 years ago

    Typical MS scam where they challenge/threat the mod community to do all their R&D for the next update. The same thing occurred with Xbox1 and many other MS products.

  • smelly #48 2 years ago

    @Mentalist : Do you REALLY think people will go through all that trouble to get an achievment in a crappy casual game?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #49 2 years ago

    Do you REALLY think people will go through all that trouble to get an achievment in a crappy casual game?

    Yup.

    http://www.autoguitarhero.com/