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Roomba Is No Spy: CEO Says iRobot Will Never Sell Your Data (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the steering-clear dept.

It's been a challenging week for iRobot, the company behind the popular Roomba robotic vacuums. From a report: It started with an interview in Reuters, in which the company's chief executive Colin Angle gave the clear impression that iRobot was selling consumers' home mapping data (Editor's note: the chief executive said the company intended to explore the opportunity). Last night, Angle and iRobot got back to me on this issue. They provided the following response to the concerns I and others shared. "First things first, iRobot will never sell your data. Our mission is to help you keep a cleaner home and, in time, to help the smart home and the devices in it work better. There's no doubt that a robot can help your home be smarter. It's the data it collects to do its job, and the trusted relationship between you, your robot and iRobot, that is critical for that to happen. Information that is shared needs to be controlled by the customer and not as a data asset of a corporation to exploit. That is how data is handled by iRobot today. Customers have control over sharing it. I want to make very clear that this is how data will be handled in the future."

6 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Then say so in your TOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Oh wait, you won't do that, will you?

    I considered getting a Roomba recently. Not anymore.

  2. You can't trust anyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I sincerely hope they go out of business.

    Imagine their mentality in a company who sells a sexbot...

  3. Then stop artificially blocking VPN... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I own 2 Roomba 980's and I was very disappointed by this debacle. If their intent is truly to help their customers and not gather data to sell at a later date, then they could start by not artificially blocking VPN in their mobile application. The mobile app is able to function over directly over local WiFi without internet access, but if you're remote, it checks if the device is connected to WiFi and matches on the SSID associated with the Roomba. If they don't match, it refuses to operate without going through the cloud even if you can successfully connect to the Roomba by IP over VPN (and call the APIs manually). It doesn't even try to connect by IP. This tells me that they're really more interested in trying to ensure you use the Cloud, and thus they get all the data.

    1. Re:Then stop artificially blocking VPN... by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is interesting. I've got an older one and there's no way I would even configure it for wifi. I have a house full of devices demanding internet access for no good reason; none of them get it. I learned my lesson when my DVD player asked for wifi credentials to "auto-update firmware" and all it did was run slower then spam me with ads every time I wanted to watch a movie.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
  4. Can it be denied internet Access and still work? by Zombie+Ryushu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Its a vaccum cleaner. Can it be denied internet access and still function?

  5. Re:Why does it even send the info back to iRobot? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "First things first, iRobot will never sell your data"

    They edited out the next bit, which says "we do however reserve the right to trade it, exchange it with business partners in exchange for consessions, or provide it to law enforcement. Note that none of this counts as selling it".