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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
At this point we've pretty well documented how the "internet of things" is a privacy and security dumpster fire. Whether it's tea kettles that expose your WiFi credentials or smart fridges that leak your Gmail password, companies were so busy trying to make a buck by embedding network chipsets into everything, they couldn't be bothered to adhere to even the most modest security and privacy guidelines. As a result, billions upon billions of devices are now being connected to the internet with little to no meaningful security and a total disregard to user privacy -- posing a potentially fatal threat to us all.
Unsurprisingly, the sex toy division of the internet of broken things is no exception to this rule. One "smart dildo" manufacturer was recently forced to shell out $3.75 million after it was caught collecting, err, "usage habits" of the company's customers. According to the lawsuit, Standard Innovation's We-Vibe vibrator collected sensitive data about customer usage, including "selected vibration settings," the device's battery life, and even the vibrator's "temperature." At no point did the company apparently think it was a good idea to clearly inform users of this data collection.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 08 2017, @11:15AM (6 children)
It's silly to point at any type or class of device, when the entire concept of "internet of things" is broken. The concept is, "Let's spy on our customers, so that we can figure out how to exploit those customers better." It's simply a broken concept.
It's past time that we wise up, stand up, and "Just say NO" to these assholes.
No, I don't want your dildo spying in my bedroom, your washer spying in the washroom, your baby sitter spying in the nursery, or even your refrigerator spying in the kitchen. All of us need to insist on appliances WITHOUT any spy features.
(Score: 4, Touché) by maxwell demon on Sunday October 08 2017, @11:34AM (2 children)
Didn't you get the memo? You are supposed to use the term "how to serve those customers better." And of course never explicitly state that they are served to the investors.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Funny) by istartedi on Sunday October 08 2017, @08:10PM
We've translated the book. "To serve customers". IT'S A COOKBOOK!
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @11:42PM
> "how to serve those customers better."
It won't take long to get to: "Share and Enjoy", the theme song of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, eventually first against the wall when the revolution came.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Sunday October 08 2017, @02:59PM
Exactly. Here's a post to that effect from the originator of the @internetofshit twitter account:
https://internetofshit.net/the-internet-of-things-has-a-dirty-little-secret-28bce2d412b2 [internetofshit.net]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @06:40PM
All of IoT is nothing but sex toys.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday October 09 2017, @09:02AM
IoT is the latest buzzword for the same concept that was Ubiquitous Computing (ubicomp) a decade ago and has had many other names. The basic idea isn't too bad: devices exchanging data can optimise for local conditions better. It's quite hard to see the benefit of a networked sex toy, but maybe you'd want your phone and doorbell to go on silent mode while it is in use (and maybe the volume on the music to turn up, if you have thin walls).
The problem is that most of the companies involved have neither any idea how to build secure networked devices, nor any real idea of why anyone would want one.
sudo mod me up