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Does this class action lawsuit qualify as a teledildonics backlash?
The makers of the We-Vibe, a line of vibrators that can be paired with an app for remote-controlled use, have reached a $3.75 million class action settlement with users following allegations that the company was collecting data on when and how the sex toy was used. Standard Innovations, the Canadian manufacturer of the We-Vibe, does not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement finalized Monday.
The We-Vibe product line includes a number of Bluetooth-enabled vibrators that, when linked to the "We-Connect" app, can be controlled from a smartphone. It allows a user to vary rhythms, patterns and settings — or give a partner, in the room or anywhere in the world, control of the device. (You can see a video promoting the app's features here; be advised, it is briefly not safe for work.)
[...] The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Illinois in September. It alleges that — without customers' knowledge — the app was designed to collect information about how often, and with what settings, the vibrator was used.
(Score: 2, Funny) by mendax on Thursday March 16 2017, @12:37AM (9 children)
This is just another example of life imitating art, meaning comedy. This story is like the Trump presidency; you just can't make up this stuff!
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday March 16 2017, @01:07AM (8 children)
Huh, those sinusoidal waveforms are pretty spiffy. I wonder if they have square, triangle, and sawtooth waveforms, with an arb waveform capability coming (heh) in the future -- which would likely require something more complicated than your garden-variety rotationally-weighted DC motor...perhaps a stepper could accomplish the functionality? That's my idea, don't you fucking steal it.
But to respond directly to you, and is another video from the We-Connect folks, something else you can't make up is Jew Propaganda. [youtube.com] Groan, yet another gratuitous Black man/White woman video.
I wouldn't mind the whole "diversity" thing in media if they at least mixed (heh) things up a bit, but no, it's always Black man/White woman. And what's that Black guy doing with his pants pulled all the way up and his shirt tucked-in anyway?
(Score: 3, Funny) by vux984 on Thursday March 16 2017, @01:54AM (6 children)
Shrug... black man + white woman ... is pretty much 'diversity cliche' sure, but 'jew propaganda'?? I'm not seeing it; its marketing... they're trying to hit the demographic that buys expensive internet vibrators... I don't think you need to read much more into it than that. We're just lucky it didn't have some sort of 50 shades or vampire angle.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:09AM (3 children)
The women I know who have large collections of expensive vibrators don't need any man at all, Black or White. To suggest that the demographic which prefers expensive vibrators are White women who prefer Black men is wrong.
Maybe they are women of any color who want release without acknowledging haram intent? Maybe they're mostly White women coupled with White men and the purveyors of the technology didn't want to appear racist? Regardless of the technology, the advertising has to conform to "politically-correct" standards, regardless of what the reality is.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:53AM (1 child)
collections of expensive vibrators don't need any man at all
According to Dave Attell, men don't need to worry about being replaced by vibrators because women will still want to be held.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Attell [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @06:09AM
Give humanoid fuckbots nice firm manos to hold and caress the lonely ladies. Problem solved.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday March 16 2017, @07:30PM
The women I know who have large collections of expensive vibrators
You must know a hell of a lot of women to know a subset who have large collections of vibrators, and a subset of them who are prepared to discuss it with you - a sub-subset large enough to make a good statistical sample at that.
I wouldn't mind the whole "diversity" thing in media if they at least mixed (heh) things up a bit, but no, it's always Black man/White woman.
Well us white men could always make up for it by going for the black women the black men left behind - no, wait, the black men have already banged them up with kids and dumped them, and now they think that all men are shit. But then there are Asian women who seem to prefer white men; you rarely see Asian men in porn except dressed up as women, and even then it's white men who are banging them. Hasn't the World become a lovely place?
(Score: 3, Offtopic) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:20AM
PSA: Eth's a troll. I'm not sure how much of his own jenkem he's huffing, but I suspect he doesn't really believe most of what he posts. It's missing the feeling of hostile intent, or at least, hostile intent above and beyond grossing people out.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @03:02PM
If porn has taught me one thing it's that with a black man around one doesn't need a vibrator.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday March 16 2017, @07:35PM
Ethanol-Fuelled wrote :-
I wonder if they have square, triangle, and sawtooth waveforms
You are making my eyes water. Do we know Hillary Clinton's number to send her a sawtooth one?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday March 16 2017, @01:04AM (2 children)
Rule n+1: Your activity is being recorded.
(Soylentnews might be one of the last exceptions pretty soon).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:53AM (1 child)
Think again. SN uses a TLS certificate from Gandi for HTTPS. Gandi has established a US corporation. The criminals occupying the US government still send out National Security Letters, and as such, either already have or can have Gandi-signed certificates to invisibly conduct man-in-the-middle attacks against you without your knowledge (unless you also happen to be taking some very esoteric steps whose raised flags you will likely dismiss as routine anyhow).
Building a "new Internet" seems pretty much the only solution - there are some interesting reads on this at places like youbroketheinternet.org [youbroketheinternet.org].
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday March 16 2017, @04:06PM
Being recorded by your ISP and the TLAs is a given.
I was merely pointing out that pretty much any server sending you any data will keep those precious logs for monetization.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @01:43AM
of societal interference into the burgeoning science of teledildonics.
For shame!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:04AM (2 children)
Expect soon to answer onlne questionnaires regarding your intended use of items used in privacy. It isn't enough that some creepy people are collating the data about what you are doing, or with whom. They'll be asking how pleasurable the experience was, and how it could have been better.
Expect the same sort of intrusiveness from your hygiene products, your makeup, your clothing - anything to which a chip can be attached.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how pleasurable was your experience with our Trojan XXXX condom this evening? Our records indicate that you used two of our condoms, please describe your experience in detail."
Our generation thought it was creepy to have a peeping Tom lurking near the house. Future generations will have hundreds of peeping Toms lurkiing inside their homes.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday March 16 2017, @03:17AM
This is true. For example, the "free" version of Turbotax, asks how you are feeling. Further extrapolation indicates that the free version is free as a result of the data they are collecting.
For me, the stakes are so low I don't care...but that may not apply to the rest of you.
(Score: 2) by driven on Thursday March 16 2017, @09:26PM
I think something needs to be done about the rampant (what I would consider) abuse of EULA's. There should be some rights that you can't just click away, like your right to privacy and to not be spied on. Stuff like "by using our site you agree to our 99 page terms of service that nobody will ever read or understand". An analogy would be expecting someone to understand the Linux kernel source code before using the operating system, or understanding how the electronics of a fuel-injected combustion engine work before going for a test drive. It's just stupid, and I'd wager whatever legal protection covers these agreements was put there by corporate lobbying.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday March 16 2017, @02:14AM (1 child)
This whole thing seems a bit iffy to me, but then I gather I'm not the target audience or buyer. It also seems somewhat limited - you can turn it on and off and you can adjust vibration speed and mode, someone else has to do the actual moving since it can't do that on its own. So what they are logging from the app is time on, time off and setting (which I gather is speed or mode - I guess it comes with various vibration modes or pulsing). One does wonder why they need to tie that to an email or phone tho. Are they trying to sell lube and battery to them? Or do they need to know when to send the replacement device or book a doctors appointment for the user due to potential carpal tunnel syndrome?
If they wanted to be really intrusive I guess they would or could have added other things to it like being able to measure moisture, temperature and contractions. At least then they could find out if it actually works. Then they would really be in business.
Question: If you hack a phone that has this app and use that app while someone is using the device is that rape?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Spamalope on Thursday March 16 2017, @04:34AM
If it's tied to a notable person's phone they they've got saleable information, possibly blackmail material. (selling time/location info to paparazzi, or a politician's info to an intel org) There is lots of room for abuse here.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Thursday March 16 2017, @03:01AM (3 children)
It's so frustrating when my dildo keeps dropping the WiFi!
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16 2017, @03:13AM (1 child)
Then use the wired ethernet port.
(Score: 3, Funny) by tibman on Thursday March 16 2017, @01:36PM
It's not as water resistant : (
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Thursday March 16 2017, @04:11PM
You're holding it wrong, I guess.