Ass Action Suit
A hackable "smart" vibrator got slammed with a $3.5 million court settlement, reports Christina Cauterucci at Slate:
People who bought easily-hacked vibrators that recorded and transmitted their vibing habits are about to get a pretty payday from a Canadian sex-toy maker. Standard Innovation, the oxymoronically-named company that manufactures the "smart" We-Vibe device, will pay $3.75 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago.The suit claims that customers bought the app-controlled, Bluetooth-compatible devices without consenting for their personal information to be collected and stored by the company. If they installed the We-Connect app on their mobile devices, users could control their vibrators (or, likely, their partners') from afar with their phones. One unexpected feature of the app was its ability to be hijacked by anyone with a Bluetooth connection in the vicinity, allowing random people to control the movements of an object in a total stranger's pants.
Haven't hot women been able to do that for centuries? Though, admittedly, without a Bluetooth connection?
People who bought easily-hacked vibrators that recorded and transmitted their vibing habits are about to get a pretty payday
Eh, probably not. Their lawyers, on the other hand, yes.
Additionally, security in the "Internet of Things" is at best an afterthought, and more like "security? what's that?"
I R A Darth Aggie at March 20, 2017 6:37 AM
"Additionally, security in the 'Internet of Things' is at best an afterthought. "
Yeah, this is the elephant in the room, and few people in that business seem to be giving it any thought. Which is going to limit acceptance of net-controlled devices. Right now, a lot of vendors, ranging from Nest to ADT to Comcast, are offering centralized home automation systems. Would I sign up for such a system? No way in hell. I DIY'ed a system around a commercial controller. I have local control through the house net, but my router completely firewalls it from the Internet. And I'm leery of wireless sensors or control devices.
Cousin Dave at March 20, 2017 6:49 AM
Right now, a lot of vendors, ranging from Nest to ADT to Comcast, are offering centralized home automation systems.
I wouldn't trust 100% of their employees to be...how to word this? able to resist the temptation of spying on people?
Just look at the GeekSquad and their penchant for filching material from computers they were entrusted to fix, not snoop thru.
https://consumerist.com/2013/08/13/geek-squad-accused-of-stealing-distributing-customers-naked-photos-yes-again/
Also, Nest purposely bricked some of their "obsolete" controllers. So there are other reasons to be wary of these people.
I R A Darth Aggie at March 20, 2017 8:01 AM
It makes you wonder if that Amazon S3 outage was a deliberate warning on how vulnerable IoT devices are.
Sixclaws at March 20, 2017 8:56 AM
Another reason to be suspicious of IoT devices: when the people who control them decide to monetize them. (And throw in a misandrist insult, for good measure.)
Cousin Dave at March 20, 2017 9:29 AM
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "there's an app for that."
Conan the Grammarian at March 20, 2017 2:48 PM
Gonna need answers from the sisters on this one, the lady-gals...
[A.] Why exactly would you want electronic connectivity from a sex toy?
[B.] What exactly did you think was going to, y'know, happen?
Crid at March 20, 2017 6:00 PM
Despite (or perhaps because of) the collapse of late-night television talk-show viewership, I feel compelled to offer these frameworks for shitty humor in this blog comment:
Crid at March 20, 2017 6:15 PM
This Crid Comedy moment has been brought to you by RouterRooter. "We're not satisfied 'til you are."
Canvasback at March 21, 2017 8:28 AM
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