Testers for the popular Roomba automated vacuum cleaner made by iRobot have stated that they feel misled after intimate photos of them ended up on Facebook. One woman found pictures of herself sitting on the toilet, never imaging her robot vacuum would violate her privacy. The pictures were reportedly posted to social media by Venezuelan gig workers.
According to a recent report from the MIT Technology Review, a woman’s Roomba robot vacuum cleaner recently took photos of her on the toilet and somehow the photos ended up on Facebook, shared by gig workers in a foreign country.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and five members of the House of Representatives are calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block Amazon’s proposed acquisition of iRobot, the company that produces the popular Roomba cleaning robots.
The FTC has launched an investigation into tech giant Amazon’s proposed $1.7 billion purchase of iRobot, the company behind Roomba. The acquisition has raised privacy concerns as it may give the e-commerce giant the ability to map customers’ houses.
More than two dozen groups that are critical of Amazon’s anti-competitive practices and surveillance capitalism have urged the FTC to block Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot, which develops Roomba vacuum cleaners. According to the coalition, “Allowing Amazon to absorb a competing smart home device business with access to incredibly detailed consumer data would endanger fair competition and open markets while also jeopardizing consumer privacy.”
Tech and e-commerce giant Amazon has reportedly purchased iRobot, the maker of the popular automated home vacuum Roomba, for $1.7 billion. Jeff Bezos’ company is likely just as interested in the ability to map customers’ homes as it is in adding vacuums to its growing empire of products and services.
The maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum has filed a lawsuit against a startup company called SharkNinja, claiming it is infringing on its patents for smart home cleaning devices. According to iRobot, which manufactures the Roomba, SharkNinja rushed “its copycat product in time for the holiday season.”
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office “captured” a very unexpected intruder in an Oregon woman’s home.
