We reported a few months ago regarding a smart vibrator company being sued by a woman from Illinois, after one of its We-Vibe toys allegedly collected intimate and private data. One complainant, under the name "N.P." found that the firm, Standard Innovation, demonstrated “a wholesale disregard for consumer privacy rights," as well as violating numerous state and federal laws.
Fast forward to this month, it seems that the story took a bad turn for the sex toy company. On Thursday, Standard Innovation settled a U.S. privacy violation suit, costing them $3.75 million. In the class action settlement agreement, the company consented to increasing its privacy standards.
More importantly, Standard Innovation has agreed to destroy the information it has already collected from its users, like "the time and date of each use, the vibration intensity level selected by the user, the vibration mode or pattern selected by the user, the temperature of the device, and battery life."
The consequences for the company don't end there, however; despite denying any shortcomings for its products, the firm will also pay out up to $10,000 to those who downloaded the We-Connect app, and used it with the vibrator before September 26, 2016. In addition to this, they are also obliged to shell out $199 to those who purchased a Bluetooth-enabled We-Vibe product.
A spokesperson for Standard Innovations said that the company was pleased to have reached a "fair and reasonable settlement." He shared further:
At Standard Innovation we take customer privacy and data security seriously. We have enhanced our privacy notice, increased app security, provided customers more choice in the data they share, and we continue to work with leading privacy and security experts to improve the app.
While users should be satisfied with the outcome, it provides a timely reminder that connected devices may be collecting more information than you originally expected.
Source: We-Vibe on Scribd via Mashable
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