iRobot Roombas

iRobot Roombas

iRobot
WiFi Bluetooth

Data da avaliação: 9 de Novembro de 2022

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A Mozilla investigou por 8 horas
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Opinião da Mozilla

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Votos das pessoas: Razoavelmente assustador

Let’s face it, vacuuming sucks. Throw in some pets or kids and this Sisyphean task can drain your soul. Well, hello Roomba! This robot vacuum does the work for you. These robot vacuums map your house, can tell the kitchen from the dinner room, and will vacuum with a "Hey Google, clean up under the table" voice command. A truly wonderful invention. And if you've been scarred by watching those videos where they smear poop all over the floor, your worries are (hopefully) over. Roombas are learning how to avoid dog poo. Technological advances are truly a wonder. Poo aside, maybe the best thing about iRobot's Roombas is, they're actually pretty good at privacy and security. For now. Who knows if they'll stay that way after Amazon's puchase of iRobot goes through?

O que pode acontecer se algo der errado?

iRobot and their robot vacuums are one of the good guys when it comes to privacy. That’s why they make our “Best Of” list. And why Consumer Reports named them the most privacy and secure robot vacuums they review. Shoot, we even hired an independent cybersecurity firm to look into iRobot Roomba’s privacy and security and they came back with a report that said, “Despite the fact that rigorous testing approaches and techniques were instigated against the Roomba Vacuum i3 … no issues of any kind were identified during the course of this review.” Good work iRobot!

That’s the good news. Now for the worrisome news. The reason we asked an independent cybersecurity firm to look into iRobot’s robot vacuum cleaners is because we wanted to confirm that they are as good at privacy and security as we thought (and it seems they are). Because not-very-good-guy Amazon announced in August, 2022 that they are acquiring good guy iRobot for about $1.7 billion. And this has us -- and many other experts -- concerned about the privacy of all the personal information these robot vacuums can collect on you and your home going forward.

Here’s why: Amazon loves data. They like to know as much about you as they can so they can target you with the ads and product recommendations that will sell you more stuff. iRobot’s privacy policy says they can collect lots of data about you and your home -- things like your home’s floor plan, the objects in your home and where they are located, cleaning schedules, your location, name, email, device and advertising IDs, and even images from your home if you chose to share those from their vacuums that use camera-based navigation. That’s a lot of info about your and your home that Amazon could potentially use to know more about you, target you with ads, and sell you more stuff

iRobot currently makes it fairly clear they want to do a good job protecting and respecting all the data their little roving vacuum robots can collect. They don’t sell your data (neither will Amazon, but Amazon doesn’t need to as they are the advertising giant others pay to use the data they have on you to target you with ads and promotions). iRobot also says they won’t share your personal information for third party advertising (they may share some app and website usage info for targeted advertising…this is super common). This is good. However, we can’t say Amazon will do the same. Amazon wants to own that data on you to target you with more ads and sell you more stuff. As one privacy expert put it, “People tend to think of Amazon as an online seller company, but really Amazon is a surveillance company. That is the core of its business model, and that’s what drives its monopoly power and profit,” says Evan Greer, director of the nonprofit digital rights organization Fight for the Future..

All this makes it feel quaint that a few years back iRobot got into a bit of hot water because it appeared they were mapping users' homes with their Roomba robot vacuum cleaners with potential plans to sell that data. Since then, iRobot stepped up and made it a point to show they don't sell users' personal data about their lives or homes. And you can choose to not have map data transmitted to iRobot at all. All this is great…and shows why the news of the pending sale of iRobot to Amazon isn’t so great.

It used to be the biggest concern you had with your Roomba was it rolling through dog poo on the floor and creating a huge mess. Now the new J series Roombas come with what they call P.O.O.P. (Pet Owner Official Promise). According to the company, the P.O.O.P promise means certain robot vacuums ”will steer clear of your pet’s waste as it gets down to its own business. If it doesn’t, we'll replace your robot for free.” Roomba accomplishes this poop detection with a camera and artificial intelligence. Does this raise some privacy concerns? Yes. Sensors for navigation are generally a safer bet than cameras in your home. However, we do like the measures Roomba takes to protect users from their cameras, like only recognizing a few objects (including poo) and shutting the camera off if it detects a human. Will Amazon keep these measures in place to protect their users? We don’t know.

What’s the worst that could happen? Well, the sale of iRobot to Amazon could (will likely) go through. And once Amazon takes over iRobot, they could turn it from a privacy success story to a privacy nightmare. And all those people who bought a Roomba partly because they were good at privacy could now have their personal information transferred over to Amazon as part of the sale. And now Amazon could have a floor plan mapping, objects in your home tracking, roving camera sending data back to the retail and ad targeting Big Tech giant. And, well, your privacy could never be the same. Dear Amazon, would you please not screw up iRobot’s robot vacuums and their strong privacy and security!?? Please! Can we just have one nice thing for privacy these days?

Dicas para se proteger

  • Use two-factor authentication
  • Limit your robot vacuum's data sharing
  • Use strong passwords
  • Keep your robot vacuum's firmware updated
  • Do not sign up with third-party accounts. Better just log in with email and strong password.
  • Use your device privacy controls to limit access to your personal information via app (do not give access to your camera, microphone, images, location unless neccessary)
  • Keep your app regularly updated
  • Limit ad tracking via your device (eg on iPhone go to Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit ad tracking) and biggest ad networks (for Google, go to Google account and turn off ad personalization)
  • Request your data be deleted once you stop using the app. Simply deleting an app from your device usually does not erase your personal data.
  • When starting a sign-up, do not agree to tracking of your data if possible.
  • mobile

Pode me bisbilhotar? informações

Câmera

Dispositivo: Sim

Aplicativo: Sim

Microfone

Dispositivo: Não

Aplicativo: Não

Rastreia localização

Dispositivo: Não

Aplicativo: Sim

O que pode ser usado para se inscrever?

Que dados a empresa coleta?

Como a empresa usa esses dados?

iRobot does not share personal data with third parties for commercial or marketing purposes.

iRobot does not sell personal data.

iRobot does not buy or sell data with data brokers.

iRobot permits third parties to develop apps and tools that interact with their Robots and Service, including, for example, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. If you choose to integrate a third-party app or service with Robots or iRobot Service, they will permit the third party to collect information from your Robot and App necessary to power the integration. Please note that iRobot does not control the data collection and use practices of these third parties. You should carefully review the third-party privacy policy and other documents before connecting your Robot or the Apps to the third-party service.

"Our Robots do not transmit this information unless you register your Robot online and connect to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or connect to the internet via another method. It is possible to use our smart technology Robots without Wi-Fi or Bluetooth data transmission, simply by disconnecting your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from the Robot or by never connecting it at all. You may also choose through your settings in the App not to have map data transmitted to us."

Como você pode controlar seus dados?

You can choose not to have map data transmitted to iRobot.

All users, regardless of where they live, can get their data deleted.
"You may access, correct, remove, request deletion of, and update certain personal information that you have provided to us by clicking on “My Account” on our Website and App. Depending on your jurisdiction, you may be entitled to additional rights in relation to your personal information."

This can be done through iRobot.com or the iRobot Home App. Personal data is deleted within 30 days of a customer's request. Usage data is stored in a deidentified database (completely separated from identifiable customer information), and is rendered fully anonymized upon customer account deletion, as all personal data is deleted during that process. For the j7/j7+ and Roomba Combo j7+, a customer can request that the images they've shared with iRobot be deleted. iRobot never has access to images the customer has chosen not share, and those are automatically deleted in 30 days.

iRobot deletes personal data after its designated retention period has been reached, or when a customer requests deletion, whichever is sooner.

Qual é o histórico conhecido da empresa na proteção de dados dos usuários?

Médio

No known incidents in the last 3 years.

Informações de privacidade infantil

The Service, Robots, and App are not directed to persons under 16 and we do not intentionally collect or maintain information from persons under 16. If you become aware that personal information about a person under 16 has been provided to us, please immediately contact us.

Este produto pode ser usado offline?

Sim

Informações de privacidade fáceis de entender?

Sim

iRobot has several privacy pages explaining its approach to privacy in simple language. It has Roomba-specific FAQs and information available.

Links para informações de privacidade

Este produto atende aos nossos padrões mínimos de segurança? informações

Sim

Criptografia

Sim

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. The Roomba communicates with the iRobot cloud service using encryption. Robot information is stored separately from any customer information to de-identify the robot and its associated data from its owner.

Senha forte

Sim

Atualizações de segurança

Sim

Gerencia vulnerabilidades

Sim

iRobot runs a private bug bounty program, which means that anyone who finds a security issue and discloses it responsibly may get paid. They also hold hacking events to collaborate with the broad security research community.

Política de privacidade

Sim

O produto usa inteligência artificial? informações

Sim

Scholarly articles are available about the machine learning used to help Roombas navigate a room and to make recommended cleaning schedules.

Esta inteligência artificial não é confiável?

Não

Que tipo de decisões a inteligência artificial faz sobre você ou por você?

iRobot uses AI and machine learning to help certain iRobot Roomba robot vacuums and Braava jet robot mops with Smart Mapping capabilities to map and navigate a home. This technology also helps these same Smart Mapping robots to automatically detect and proactively suggest ‘Clean Zones’ around specific objects like couches, tables, and kitchen counters. To do this, iRobot’s software has been trained with hundreds of thousands of images of these common household objects taken from test home environments during our development process (note: no customer robots or customer data was used during this process). Our machine learning software running onboard the robot then uses this pre-trained ability to recognize these objects in the home to deliver the customer-facing feature. AI and machine learning also enables our connected robots to better fit within our users homes and schedules through features like recommended cleaning schedules based on the user’s previous cleaning patterns and, for our Smart Mapping robots, learning trouble areas of the home based on the robot’s experience and recommending specific ‘Keep Out Zones’ to the user.

Only the Roomba j7/j7+ and Roomba Combo j7+ can use its camera sensor to detect and avoid obstacles; which currently includes only electrical cords and pet waste. With a user’s express, opt-in consent, their Roomba j-Series robot will snap a photo of perceived obstacle and send the photo to the iRobot Home App for a user’s review. iRobot cannot view the images sent to the iRobot Home App unless a user specifically chooses to share an image with us. Users can choose to share any image they’d like - all of them, or none. Images that are shared with iRobot are used to improve iRobot's ability to train robots to avoid obstacles. Images that are not shared with iRobot are never viewable by iRobot and are deleted in 30 days.

A empresa é transparente sobre como funciona a inteligência artificial?

Sim

An example can be found here: https://spectrum.ieee.org/irobot-roomba-j7

O usuário tem controle sobre os recursos da inteligência artificial?

Não foi possível determinar

*privacidade não incluída

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