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Roomba's Next Big Step Is Selling Maps of Your Home to the Highest Bidder (gizmodo.com)
The maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum, iRobot -- which we have talked about several times in the past -- has found itself embroiled in a privacy row after its chief executive suggested it may begin selling floor plans of customers' homes, derived from the movement data of their autonomous servants. From a report: While it may seem like the information that a Roomba could gather is minimal, there's a lot to be gleaned from the maps it's constantly updating. It knows the floor plan of your home, the basic shape of everything on your floor, what areas require the most maintenance, and how often you require cleaning cycles, along with many other data points. [...] If a company like Amazon, for example, wanted to improve its Echo smart speaker, the Roomba's mapping info could certainly help out. Spatial mapping could improve audio performance by taking advantage of the room's acoustics. Do you have a large room that's practically empty? Targeted furniture ads might be quite effective. The laser and camera sensors would paint a nice portrait for lighting needs that would factor into smart lights that adjust in real time. Smart AC units could better control airflow. And additional sensors added in the future would gather even more data from this live-in double agent.
My SIL showed me the app for her unit over the weekend. She seemed particularly excited over being able to order a cleaning cycle from the restaurant. She was also proud of the map she could pull up and show us of the floor plan and cleaning results, but it was the remote control that seemed to be the selling point. As long as these types of features excite people, they'll be available.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Modern mapp mappers use mapps to mapp mapps, or something. Mapps?
Appliances shouldn't report on their owners.
Having said that, it could be fun having the Roomba send data that indicates:
- Our bathrooms are the size of Airplane hangers
- The master bedroom is actually a dungeon
- Our pets consist of only magical creatures
- My workroom contains nuclear materials
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Comment removed based on user account deletion
bigger problem - they still haven't solved the whole "SMEARING PET SHIT ALL OVER YOUR HOUSE" problem.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
why is this thing connected to the internet in the first place?
Because that's how they hoover up your data!
Seriously.... who cares that they know your floor plan?
It's not what they're selling, it's that they're selling it at all. Consumers seem to have no control over their personal data anymore. They're at the mercy of whichever corporation decides that they'd like to squeeze you for a little more money. The answer shouldn't be "well, stop using that technology!". What we should be doing is demanding stronger consumer protection laws to prevent it from happening in the first place.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Tinfoil hat time, but the same data could provide the means of a well-crafted home invasion. In the event of a full breach home invasion, one of the advantages that the home owner has is knowing the layout of their home. If those that mean to do harm, have the home layout they can pre-plan out everything in advance.
That's why I rearrange all my rooms daily. Imagine their surprise when they burst into the master bedroom only to find it full of dishes from earlier in the day.
There's no place like