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What is the threat from someone having an approximate floor plan of where you live?

michaelt 3y ago
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/10/1066500/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuum-beta-product-testers-consent-agreement-misled/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/10/1066500/roomba-i... > Roomba testers feel misled after intimate images ended up on Facebook [...] Robot would share test users’ data in a sprawling, global data supply chain, where everything (and every person) captured by the devices’ front-facing cameras could be seen, and perhaps annotated, by low-paid contractors outside the United States who could screenshot and share images at their will. [...] These workers then shared at least 15 images—including shots of a minor and of a woman sitting on the toilet—to social media groups where they gathered to talk shop. To be fair, when the photo of a woman taking a shit was shared on facebook, her face was blurred. Once something is online there's also the (less important but perhaps more likely) risk they'll send software updates that remove features, add adverts, force you to set up an account, and other nonsense like that.
InitialLastName 3y ago
See comment above: > Just last year one of their contractors posted a picture taken by a vacuum of a woman going to the bathroom. It's not just a floor plan, it's a video overview of everything in your living space.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >It's not just a floor plan, it's a video overview of everything in your living space. Most robo-vacs don't have cameras, but lidar/IR sensors so all they get is a 2D map of your floorplan, not video footage.
  - downWidOutaFite 3y ago
    Yea mine is just LIDAR. What feature would it need video for?
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      Some fancier models use cameras for obstacle detection and avoidance. They try to identify stuff than chokes and clogs the robovacs so they can avoid them, like socks, USB cables or Lego on the floor, or my personal favorite, pet poop. There was a funny video on social media, of a home surveillance camera capturing the pet taking a dump in the middle of the living room, and then the Roomba smearing it everywhere as it did its rounds. If you're a pet owner who's companion can do their business in your house, having the robovac smear it everywhere is a nightmare you'd want to avoid at all cost, and that can only be solved using cameras.
  - ex3ndr 3y ago
    IR sensors are just cameras, also IR can look through some clothes
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      No, mate you're wrong. IR sensors are just an IR LED and a diode, not cameras.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/10/1066500/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuum-beta-product-testers-consent-agreement-misled/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/10/1066500/roomba-i... > Roomba testers feel misled after intimate images ended up on Facebook [...] Robot would share test users’ data in a sprawling, global data supply chain, where everything (and every person) captured by the devices’ front-facing cameras could be seen, and perhaps annotated, by low-paid contractors outside the United States who could screenshot and share images at their will. [...] These workers then shared at least 15 images—including shots of a minor and of a woman sitting on the toilet—to social media groups where they gathered to talk shop. To be fair, when the photo of a woman taking a shit was shared on facebook, her face was blurred. Once something is online there's also the (less important but perhaps more likely) risk they'll send software updates that remove features, add adverts, force you to set up an account, and other nonsense like that.

InitialLastName 3y ago

See comment above: > Just last year one of their contractors posted a picture taken by a vacuum of a woman going to the bathroom. It's not just a floor plan, it's a video overview of everything in your living space.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>It's not just a floor plan, it's a video overview of everything in your living space. Most robo-vacs don't have cameras, but lidar/IR sensors so all they get is a 2D map of your floorplan, not video footage.
- downWidOutaFite 3y ago
  Yea mine is just LIDAR. What feature would it need video for?
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Some fancier models use cameras for obstacle detection and avoidance. They try to identify stuff than chokes and clogs the robovacs so they can avoid them, like socks, USB cables or Lego on the floor, or my personal favorite, pet poop. There was a funny video on social media, of a home surveillance camera capturing the pet taking a dump in the middle of the living room, and then the Roomba smearing it everywhere as it did its rounds. If you're a pet owner who's companion can do their business in your house, having the robovac smear it everywhere is a nightmare you'd want to avoid at all cost, and that can only be solved using cameras.
- ex3ndr 3y ago
  IR sensors are just cameras, also IR can look through some clothes
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    No, mate you're wrong. IR sensors are just an IR LED and a diode, not cameras.