‘Smart’ Dildo Company Sued For Tracking Users’ Habits

[Little Tich]

Source: Vocativ

We-Vibe's makers sued after customer finds out they know all about her orgasms (and also her email address).

A woman is suing her dildo manufacturer for knowing too much about when and how she uses it.

A few weeks ago, two researchers told the Defcon hacking convention audience that We-Vibe “smart” sex toys send a lot of data about their users back to the company that makes them. According to Courthouse News, one We-Viber took this news hard. A woman known only as “N.P.” filed a class action civil suit in a federal court in Illinois against Standard Innovation, which makes the We Vibe line of sex toys and corresponding app.

The smartphone app lets users “customize” their We-Vibe experience, unlock app-only “bonus” vibration modes such as the “cha-cha-cha” and the “crest,” and “create unlimited custom playlists,” according to the product’s website. In the suit, N.P. says she bought a We-Vibe in May and used it “several times” until she realized that it was sending data about her usage practices back to Standard Innovation’s servers, including when she used it, which vibration settings she used, and her email address.

The two researchers, known only as “followr” and “g0ldfisk,” said they discovered the amount of data the app transmitted back to Standard Innovation when looking for security flaws (not an unheard of possibility when it comes to internet-enabled sex toys). After the presentation, a spokesperson for the company told CNET it would “clarify” its terms and conditions to make it more obvious that the app could transmit data, which was “mostly anonymized” was being used for “market research.” It would also add the ability to opt-out. The company also posted a “commitment to customer privacy and security” on its website.



Read more: http://www.vocativ.com/358530/smart-dildo-company-sued-for-tracking-users-habits/

[Warren DeMontague]

1. OPEN THE POD BAY DOORS, HAL

[NightWatcher]

4. I'm afraid I can't let you do this

[In_The_Wind]

7. Is That You, Hal

[NightWatcher]

11. David is that you?

[In_The_Wind]

13. *snort*

[left-of-center2012]

2. I'm speechless

But my mind is full of WTF thoughts.

[Marie Marie]

3. Well that clinches it.

Personal Privacy is a quaint notion in today's technological world.

[left-of-center2012]

5. Yes, I had to look it up

Why is the 'slate' $36 cheaper? And would you really care what color it is?
And no, I don't need one -- I'm a guy.

[msanthrope]

15. Just because you are a guy, it does not mean you do not require a dildo.

Expand your horizons.

[left-of-center2012]

16. A dildo would expand more than my horizons

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. "app only model" - what, you have to hold your phone down there and they make it vibrate?

Eww.

[In_The_Wind]

6. Ain't Nobody's Business

[tymorial]

8. Speechless

For the fact that there is an app for apparently everything and the disgusting violation of privacy.

[Initech]

9. If you're in the market for a smartphone connected dildo...

I would think privacy would be the least of your concerns wouldn't it?

[Skittles]

14. it's like the people who need a website to have an affair

they.....don't seem to look at the big picture

[Warren DeMontague]

17. ...

[irisblue]

10. market research + vibrators?

Something more then colors, batteries, & lube needs to be researched?

[deathrind]

12. Really?!?

These folks bought a product that connects to the Internet...that is labeled a "smart" product and did not anticipate that that product not only receives information but also sends information back to the manufacturer.

Folks really need to inform themselves about how these "smart" products operate. If it connects to the Internet it is sending information...regularly...even when it appears to be hibernating.

[LeftyMom]

18. It's a vibrator, not a dildo.

This country needs remedial sex ed. Jesus.