Roomba vacuum cleaner records woman on toilet and photos end up on Facebook

Technology often plays tricks on us. In this case, a woman She was sitting on the toilet when the Roomba vacuum cleaner recorded her. But that was not all, as the photos ended up on the social network Facebook. Apparently, the device was connected to the Internet and Send photos to the cloud.

iRobot Roomba J7 even filmed the woman in the toilet with her shirt on. The images were sent to Scale AI to train the AI ​​and the device that was connected to the internet sent the images to the cloud. MIT Technology noted that it “got… 15 photo shots which were posted in closed social media groups” in 2020.

As Dennis Geese says: MIT Technology ReviewData collected by robotic vacuum cleaners It can be particularly invasive. They have powerful hardware, powerful sensors, and they can roam your home without you controlling it. This data is collected with the goal of building smarter bots. However, for the information to be useful, users must view it, categorize it, and tag it adding context to each bit.

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MIT notes that James Bausman, a spokesperson for iRobot, said in an email, “The company has taken all precautions To ensure that personal data is processed securely and in accordance with applicable law, and that images are shared in violation of a written order.”

people who use These vacuum cleaners user Allow iRobot to collect data while they are running. In exchange, the company offers consumers the opportunity to contribute training data to the company to improve its algorithms.

Although this company Removes images in which the customer is in a compromised position Like nudity, partial nudity, or sexual interaction, it is true that politics does not consider sensitive faces. “In the case of the woman in the bathroom, the data selector made an effort to maintain her privacy by putting a black circle across her face,” MIT Technology said.