This One Time, I Titled My Tumblr

Hello dear Tumblr friends,

From the moment I heard reports that Microsoft was bringing Cortana to Xbox One I tried to ask Major Nelson about this concern via social media channels and received no response. Let me put it this way.

I DO NOT WANT CORTANA. Period. Ever. Anywhere. No I don't want it on my Windows 10 PC. No I don't want it on my Xbox. I want no part in Cortana.

I bought an Xbox One on release day. I have a "Day One" edition. When I bought my console I bought it with the expectation that I would be able to use Voice commands to control my console, and that those commands would be a function for the life of the console. I use the Kinect's voice commands on a daily basis. I tell it things like "Xbox On", "Xbox watch TV", and so on. I do not use it to search the web. I do not use it for anything more than navigation around my Xbox One and controlling the TV.

With the latest preview release (available onto to those who opted in right now, not yet public) Microsoft has taken that functionality away from me. Gone is the simple voice command system and in its place is a smart AI system designed to learn as much as possible about me and use that knowledge to sell me to the highest bidder. I WILL NOT BUY INTO THE CORTANA ECO SYSTEM. I do not want one iota of my information stored on the Cortana servers. My Kinect is in my home, it hears everything that happens. I do not trust Microsoft with that information. I did trust that the old Kinect software, but I do not trust Cortana.

I will give Microsoft the chance to response as this is just a preview release, however if they do not make the necessary changes to allow us to use the Kinect voice system as it was, with zero Cortana integration in the next public release, than I submit that we begin proceedings for a class action lawsuit against Microsoft. We bought a product that did not include the invasive strings of Cortana. The fact that we need to agree to a new set of terms proves that point. By crippling the product that we paid for, is a breach of our original sale agreement.

To go even further, I primarily use my Xbox to control my TV. Call me lazy but I fully embraced the Kinect voice controlled world and haven't even bothered to memorize my favorite TV channels. Since the day I set up my Xbox One, I've simply had to say "Xbox, watch Comedy Central" and it would plug in the rest. The Xbox One's voice controls were my primary use of the Xbox console. I've played far more Xbox 360 games in the past few months than I have Xbox One. By telling me that I have to either accept the invasive and disturbing terms of Cortana's data collecting always-on microphone, or give up the primary use of my Xbox One console, you are taking away my right to use the product as it was originally sold to me.

I opted in to the preview program for exactly this reason. I knew Microsoft was going to try to pull this, especially after the borderline malware they turned Windows 10 into. Unless we make Microsoft aware that we will not accept this forced action and that we will consider legal action, then this change will make it into the final Public release, with no ability to opt-out.

The only remedy at that point to prevent the Cortana change would be to not update your Xbox system, but that isn't an option either. If you do not update, you will not be allowed to access the games and features of Xbox LIVE, a service I have been paying for for over 10 years.

Tl;dr?

Microsoft give us a way to opt out of Cortana and retain the Xbox voice commands as they existed prior to this preview release.