In an attempt to crack down on pedophiles and the terrorists, the U.S. government is working on “spying” on your video game console. The government is working with a San Francisco based company, Obscure Technologies, to make this possible. Obscure has accepted a contract for 3/4 of a million dollars to develop a set of tools, both hardware and software, that would enable the government to extract data from consoles.

I find it really upsetting that the government has the audacity to even do something like this. Although it’s to be expected after they tried to pass SOPA and PIPA. Let’s get past my bias and take a look at this a little deeper though.

There isn’t that much personal information on a console except your birthday and quite possibly your name. So what’s the big deal? Well, if the government gets a hold of this type of technology just think of who else could improve upon it and get your credit card details when you do transactions via XBOX Live or the PSN. Also, the hole that companies would have to open to let the government in to the consoles could possibly make it easier for hackers to get into your system.

However, we have to take a look at the other side of this equation. You’ve all heard of so-called reports of terrorists using video games to “train” their soldiers. Well, they may not be too far from the truth, terrorists using video games that is. What if a terrorist were to use his/her Xbox 360 or PS3 to communicate to other persons?

What do you think dear readers?

[Thanks G4TV]