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: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 08 2017, @11:46AM (2 children)
That's what the summary is for. This one, unfortunately, doesn't give any indication that there's any news here. The first story says We-Vibe's manufacturer tracked customers without telling them. The second story says the manufacturer got sued and settled for $3.75 million. The third story, judging by the summary, says We-Vibe's manufacturer tracked customers without telling them, got sued, and settled for $3.75 million—all of which we knew. It's no surprise it's shite, since no one bothered to write a summary, but simply cribbed the beginning of the article.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 08 2017, @11:53AM
Fair nuff. The third paragraph on the FA is where you start finding what the story's actually about and the eds didn't include it in the summary.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NotSanguine on Sunday October 08 2017, @10:14PM
From TFA:
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr