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Woman Sues Sex Toy App For Secretly Capturing Sensitive Information (ctvnews.ca)
A woman in Chicago filed a class action lawsuit against the makers of a smartphone-enabled vibrator, alleging their devices "secretly collect and transmit 'highly sensitive' information." CTV News reports:
The lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month in an Illinois court, explains that to fully operate the device, users download the We-Connect app on a smartphone, allowing them and their partners remote control over the Bluetooth-equipped vibrator's settings... The suit alleges that unbeknownst to its customers, Standard Innovation designed the We-Connect app to collect and record intimate and sensitive data on use of the vibrator, including the date and time of each use as well as vibration settings...
It also alleges the usage data and the user's personal email address was transmitted to the company's servers in Canada. The statement of claim alleges the company's conduct demonstrates "a wholesale disregard" for consumer privacy rights and violated a number of state and federal laws.
Slashdot reader BarbaraHudson argues that "It kind of has to share that information if it's going to be remotely controlled by someone else." But the woman's lawsuit claims she wouldn't have bought the device if she'd known that while using it, the manufacturer "would monitor, collect and transmit her usage information."
It also alleges the usage data and the user's personal email address was transmitted to the company's servers in Canada. The statement of claim alleges the company's conduct demonstrates "a wholesale disregard" for consumer privacy rights and violated a number of state and federal laws.
Slashdot reader BarbaraHudson argues that "It kind of has to share that information if it's going to be remotely controlled by someone else." But the woman's lawsuit claims she wouldn't have bought the device if she'd known that while using it, the manufacturer "would monitor, collect and transmit her usage information."
Then your sex life is a tragic mess.
Fear? No. This is anger.
In the connected world, everybody that produces any software at all uses it to collect every bit of data they can get their grubby mitts on. Many people don't care, which is why it continues.
They will never stop out of politeness or respect. The only way to retain one's privacy is to fight for it, as this lady is doing.
If we decide to change our privacy statement, we will post changes here in the Legal section of the Website so that you are aware of what information has changed. We reserve the right to modify our privacy statement at any time, so please check back here.
Maybe they already changed it to say "actually, all your base are belong to us". Is it really reasonable to ask users to compulsively check the agreement in case they changed it?
Apple Developer's EULA requires our confirmation when rules change, but since they change every month or so and present you with 50 pages of new rules, only companies that have a room of of lawyers on retainer can possibly keep up.
No. This is greed.
The old American dream was to work hard, climb the ladder, and one day you can be rich too.
When people started to realize that this isn't working anymore, they started the new American dream: Playing the lottery and trying to find ways to sue people who do have money as a new way to get rich.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
In the event of a traffic accident, they will demand the records from the server to see if the driver was having an orgasm at the time.
Have gnu, will travel.
They will never stop out of politeness or respect
They will only stop when people stop buying devices that phone home, and it becomes clear that doing it is a death sentence in the marketplace, while companies that respect privacy are rewarded in the marketplace. Right now, we do that exactly the other way around, so it's no surprise that's what we get. We reward privacy violations and punish devices that are not "web-enabled".
Internet connected TV? No.
Internet connected vibrator? No.
Internet connected automobile? No.
Internet connected heart rate monitor? No.
Internet connected refrigerator? No.
The message from the buying public is that we will buy the shiny, no matter how privacy-hostile it is. We simply don't care! With that message being sent, there is no reason for vendors not to harvest every bit of day they possibly can from our devices.
You want to make a difference? Stop buying devices that phone home.
It never worked. In a winner-takes-all society like the US, just working hard is never enough. Lots of people work hard, they don't get rich.
Good parents and luck, that's how you get rich in America.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I know a SJW like you hates America, but that isn't what America is about. The American dream is not to get rich, but to have a good life. But you are right, working hard is not the key, the key is working SMART. The difference between low/middle/upper class isn't how hard you work. In fact, the lower classes work much harder than the upper ones.
This requires having a career that carries you through your life, which no longer exists. I know many people in the generation before me that went to work for one company, got on a defined benefit plan, worked there for their whole career and now have a great retirement. That won't be in the cards for many of my generation.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Socialism tinted glasses: "well I work as hard as X!! Why I no rich like them!!!"...
Its the same mentality as people wanting to give trophies to everyone for putting in the same amount of effort rather than giving trophies to the people that play the sport well and win points.
And what's your fucking claim to fame, Mr. Know It All?
You pull yourself up by your bootstraps or are you straight out of the suburban cul de sac? It's easy to buckle down and study hard when Mama and Dada wipe your ass until you're 25, but some don't have that opportunity and I guess it's their fault for being born to irresponsible parents?
Trying working two jobs, going to school full time and raising two siblings and see how far you get in life, but then again a self-made-man like yourself would have probably just let your sibs get put in foster care so they couldn't compete with you later on (Now That's What I Call Capitalism Vol. 4)
I just wish I could be there to see the look of despair on your face when (not if) your nest egg gets poached by the system you're currently jerking off.
No. Being moderately well-off has usually been based on merit...with some race thrown in. Being rich has *almost* always been based on rich parents and good social connections. There are exceptions, but they are exceptions.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
It's called the American dream because it has never, ever been reality.
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *