4 ms·

Well, a robot vacuum cleaner is a great idea. What I don't understand is why the profit is tied to data collection. Shouldn't there be a profit in simply sellin

Well, a robot vacuum cleaner is a great idea. What I don't understand is why the profit is tied to data collection. Shouldn't there be a profit in simply selling vacuum cleaner? In this case iRobot didn't exactly lie about collecting data, but how greedy/stupid do you have to be as a company to not ensure that the data collect NEVER EVER leave the servers of your AI/QA/Process-improvement lab? The company know that people are already critical of their data collection, that should have trigged the creation of a process that would ensure that once data has been collected will never leave the department that develops their AI. You know this data is sensitive, and yet you outsource handling of if it, to poorly trained freelancers, who knows nothing of data security, privacy laws or apparently common decency.

stuaxo 4y ago
It's just too tempting - the only way to solve this is to not collect the data at all.
whatsthatabout 4y ago
I love the idea of robot vacuums. In fact I own one. In my opinion one of the most useful "smart home" device currently made. Too bad the good ones are all tied to some shitty cloud (whilst they could work locally 100%). Fortunately projects like https://valetudo.cloud https://valetudo.cloud exist...
- Adraghast 4y ago
  My Eufy one has no ability to connect to the internet but does a pretty good job of cleaning my floors.
  - gpderetta 4y ago
    My Eufy does, but its wifi led has been blinking since I bought it as I never configured it nor I have found a good reason why would I want to. Pressing the clean button seems to do everything I want it to.
  - jacooper 4y ago
    If you can still trust Eufy https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23486753/anker-eufy-security-camera-cloud-private-encryption-authentication-storage https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23486753/anker-eufy-secu...
    - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
      I feel like a product that literally doesn't have an internet connection to begin is probably sufficiently trustworthy? Pity about the rest of the company, of course
      - jacooper 4y ago
        Or just block its Mac address from your network, though, make sure there are no other open WiFis nearby!
  - whatsthatabout 4y ago
    Well I like the features it can have connected to my local network like clean specific rooms or setting no-go zones but this should be done local only. Syncing settings from my phone app to the cloud back to the robot is so dumb...
- kjkjadksj 4y ago
  I’m pretty sure my xiaomi would clean without wifi but I’m not sure if it would be able to get back to its dock on its own.
ketchupdebugger 4y ago
Companies right now doesn't have a good and easy way to track how data is flowing through their system. Yes, iRobot can say that it was collecting the data for improvement purposes and the data ends up in a database meant only for improvement purposes, but no tech company today can guarantee that no other processes/services are also reading/utilizing this data. All it takes is a dev from another team doing a text search for data variable names and adding that data to their db/data pipeline.
mrobins 4y ago
Agree in spirit but I think companies actually need to be extremely competent and consumer/privacy focused to ensure data collected NEVER leave their testing environment. It takes constant vigilance and sadly the incentives aren’t there.
npteljes 4y ago
>Shouldn't there be a profit in simply selling vacuum cleaner? I think that it's an attractive thing because it pays, and people generally don't care. So it's a free avenue for the company to make additional profits, or, to use this extra profit to lower the margin of the original product, thereby making it more attractive in a price competition.

stuaxo 4y ago

It's just too tempting - the only way to solve this is to not collect the data at all.

whatsthatabout 4y ago

I love the idea of robot vacuums. In fact I own one. In my opinion one of the most useful "smart home" device currently made. Too bad the good ones are all tied to some shitty cloud (whilst they could work locally 100%). Fortunately projects like https://valetudo.cloud https://valetudo.cloud exist...

Adraghast 4y ago
My Eufy one has no ability to connect to the internet but does a pretty good job of cleaning my floors.
- gpderetta 4y ago
  My Eufy does, but its wifi led has been blinking since I bought it as I never configured it nor I have found a good reason why would I want to. Pressing the clean button seems to do everything I want it to.
- jacooper 4y ago
  If you can still trust Eufy https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23486753/anker-eufy-security-camera-cloud-private-encryption-authentication-storage https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23486753/anker-eufy-secu...
  - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    I feel like a product that literally doesn't have an internet connection to begin is probably sufficiently trustworthy? Pity about the rest of the company, of course
    - jacooper 4y ago
      Or just block its Mac address from your network, though, make sure there are no other open WiFis nearby!
- whatsthatabout 4y ago
  Well I like the features it can have connected to my local network like clean specific rooms or setting no-go zones but this should be done local only. Syncing settings from my phone app to the cloud back to the robot is so dumb...
kjkjadksj 4y ago
I’m pretty sure my xiaomi would clean without wifi but I’m not sure if it would be able to get back to its dock on its own.

ketchupdebugger 4y ago

Companies right now doesn't have a good and easy way to track how data is flowing through their system. Yes, iRobot can say that it was collecting the data for improvement purposes and the data ends up in a database meant only for improvement purposes, but no tech company today can guarantee that no other processes/services are also reading/utilizing this data. All it takes is a dev from another team doing a text search for data variable names and adding that data to their db/data pipeline.

mrobins 4y ago

Agree in spirit but I think companies actually need to be extremely competent and consumer/privacy focused to ensure data collected NEVER leave their testing environment. It takes constant vigilance and sadly the incentives aren’t there.

npteljes 4y ago

>Shouldn't there be a profit in simply selling vacuum cleaner? I think that it's an attractive thing because it pays, and people generally don't care. So it's a free avenue for the company to make additional profits, or, to use this extra profit to lower the margin of the original product, thereby making it more attractive in a price competition.