Vibrator maker to pay out $4 million for tracking users’ sexual activity

MAKERS of a smart vibrator have been forced to pay millions to customers after it was revealed they were secretly tracking users’ sexual activity.

Customers weren't happy to learn their preferences were being catalogued.

A SEX toy company has promised to destroy data collected by its smart vibrator after it was accused of storing “highly sensitive” information about women’s sexual activities without their consent.

Standard Innovation promised the We-Vibe toy would stop storing “intensity levels” and will pay around $4 million to settle out of court after a class-action lawsuit was filed when customers found out.

It came to light when a pair of New Zealand hackers claimed they were able to interfere with the We-Vibe vibrators, remotely turning them on.

During a Def Con hacking conference in August 2016, hackers also demonstrated that the vibrators sent temperature and intensity settings back to the manufacturer.

Speaking at the event, the pair argued that the problem was a “serious issue” saying; “unwanted activation of a vibrator is potentially sexual assault.”

Standard Innovation — which has previously claimed to have millions of We-Vibe customers — denies any wrongdoing but it was accused of failing to notify customers of its data collection policy.

The company’s president later denied the data collection was being used to snoop on its customers, but simply to monitor for any hardware defaults.

The company’s president denied the data was being used to snoop on its customers.

According to court documents, dates and times of use as well as vibration mode and pattern to the company’s servers along with personally-identifiable email addresses were being stored on Innovation Standards servers.

The Canadian manufacturer will pay anyone who used the connected We-Vibe app before September 26 2016 up to $10,000 and will offer customers who simply own the device up to $199.

It told MarketWatch in a statement that it was “pleased to have reached a fair and reasonable settlement in this matter”.

“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 enhance the app. With this settlement, Standard Innovation can continue to focus on making new, innovative products for our customers.”

This article originally appeared in The Sun.