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Popular Sex Toy Caught Sending Intimate Data To Manufacturer (fusion.net)
In a world where thermostats, and smart locks can be hacked, and companies covertly record information, why should sex toys remain unaffected. Fusion is reporting that the We-Vibe 4 Plus, a popular vibrator sends a range of intimate data to its manufacturer. The sex toy uses a smartphone app, which lets a use control the vibration among other things. From the report: When the device is in use, the We-Vibe 4 Plus uses its internet connectivity to regularly send information back to its manufacturer, Standard Innovations Corporation. It sends the device's temperature every minute, and lets the manufacturer know each time a user changes the device's vibration level. The company could easily figure out some seriously intimate personal information like when you get off, how long it takes, and with what combinations of vibes. This was revealed on Friday at hacker conference Defcon in Las Vegas by two security researchers, who wish to be called only by their handles @gOldfisk and @rancidbacon. The two examined the app's code and the information being sent by the device over Bluetooth. In a statement sent by email, Standard Innovation Corporation's president Frank Ferrari confirmed that the company collects this information. [...]
" seriously intimate personal information like when you get off, how long it take"
Most Slashdotters already have information like this collected by their ISP ;-)
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
Is nothing sacred anymore? Are we really nothing more than market research tools and products to be sold to the highest bidder anymore? Look, if you give me something for free, I don't think it's necessarily unreasonable to ask for something in return (provided you disclose that you're collecting that data). But if I'm paying for it, then please just stop. I'm the customer, not the product.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Do they have the smartphone-enabled model that lets you control the vibration functionality from a *remote* smartphone, so you can further bridge the phone sex gap?
I'm asking for a friend.
Brings a whole new meaning to pentesting doesn't it?
It's hard to type properly with only one hand
Which way is the transparency?
To the customer, by making it plain Big Brother is watching their orgasms?
To the company, as in "OK. Delilah in Kansas City likes Echo Mode at 5.7Hz. Why don't we start offering pre-customized models which have all the user's preferences pre-programmed? For a fee, of course."
"The company could easily figure out some seriously intimate personal information like when you get off, how long it takes, and with what combinations of vibes."
sure, then they sell your data to your health insurance company, employers, the goverment so they all know about your sexual activities and perceived health. takes longer than a few minutes for you to get off? that will earn you an interesting chat with your manager the next moring.
"Steve, we've noticed you recently have been sexually quite active. We are pleased it works out for you. However we're really concerned about the decline in your performance, sexually. I look at my statistics sheet here, and it says you usually took just 1.5 minutes, which is very good. It releases stress but it doesn't impact your productivity that much. So that's a good thing. However, for almost 2 weeks now, we see that it takes you 5, sometimes 10 minutes to get off. I have to tell you, we don't like this development. You have to look into this. If you can't improve it, we will ban you from any sexual activities in the future and treat you with a stress relexant. Am I clear?"
brave new world
If you can get over the fact it's about sex, it's actually a pretty good collection of metrics to collect when you're looking to get the best performance out of your product.
They'll take that data and use it to improve future products to better get you off /with science/
Also could provide pretty good data for legit scientific study - It can be hard to get funding to study taboo subjects.
Of course, this all needs to be clearly stated in a privacy policy and data should be anonymized.. That's the real fuck-up here.
Sex toy makers are dicks.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Hire some.
That summary is so poorly written that it borders on editorial malpractice.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
...this security issue will affect very few /.ers...
Okay, so they capture completely non-personally-identifiable information... so?
They log how often the user changes vibration settings. This seems like clear product improvement data. Remove lesser-used settings and utilize the information on how frequently the settings are changed to create an auto-program that mimics that alternation.
They capture the temperature. This seems like possible safety data, if nothing else.
If it activated the microphone to record the ambient "noise", you'd have a clear case of 'catching' someone sending data. Does it send the phone's device ID? I didn't see it in the summary. So I'm genuinely not seeing what's inherently wrong with wanting to understand how products are used and could improve, especially in the burgeoning sexual-health industry.
[DISCLAIMER: This post is a work of satire and should not be misconstrued as a holy text upon which to base a religion.]
On the upside, it could be used to create a custom profile on what REALLY gets the person off. I imagine a vibrator that "learns" would be a welcome asset to a lot of women out there.
Newsreader: in the latest IT scandal, Standard Initrode Corp has admitted that its Autobanger sex toys have been remotely hijacked by a variant of the Stuxnet virus. The effect of the hijacking is to cause the device to repeatedly apply the user's favorite settings, until the user becomes unresponsive. Last week's revelations by Federal investigators that a number of unexplained deaths among Congressmen and -women were caused by unexpected heart attacks may be related.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
Great - now I have to worry about man-in-the-middle attacks in the bedroom too?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
(a) This is the creepiest thing I've read all week.
(b) When can I control the smartphone from the vibrator?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .