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Comment by jimmies | Hacker News Reader

>Every new face is another friend to be made

>learns the environment

>aibo [...] constantly updating its data in the cloud

>apps

Hey sorry to be a cynical brat, but does this imply that it's just another Internet-of-Sting like the Roomba-style robot from Xiaomi (a backdoor mapping agent)? As it costs like 1000 USD, it better not pull that kind of bullshit.

But how do I know? Trust is a huge factor here, and what Sony shows here doesn't impress me a bit. The page does not say anything about data and privacy protection. If Sony does not directly do it, how does Sony vet the third party apps to make sure third party apps don't pull that kind of bullshit?

The last thing I want to hear is to get a blackmail from a $1000 robotic dog, you know. "Last Tuesday, you listened to a pirated CD from Sony. Your dog has accidentally used that CD for a toy while you're busy making love with the housemaid."

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You have a right to be cynical, this is the same Sony that distributed rootkits on audio CDs they sold only a decade ago.

No, it isn't. This is ソニー株式会社. The rootkit scandal was Sony BMG, of which Sony America was a partial owner.

Like most megacorps, Sony isn't a single monolithic entity.

I can't find anything that claims Xiaomi vacuums are spying on us (would maps of rugs be useful to collect?) Do you have a reference?

I remember reading that the latest Roomba vacuums were uploading their movement patterns to the cloud to "optimize the cleaning experience". I don't personally have a reference.

A set of highly detailed house maps, with strong indicators of the traffic patterns (via dirt detection) and pet ownership (abnormally high volumes of shortish hair; tends to clog filters faster), would be exceptionally useful as input to your advertising profile.

I have the feeling Roombas aren't capable of dirt-diving yet, even if paired with the cloud.

You likely read that, but the story was that some exec cited it as an idea. It was reported as factual and actual, and that's how it will be remembered.

My telling you won't matter, as eventually one or both of us will forget, and the lie lives on.

It is not an idea from an exec, and that is not a lie.

>https://youtu.be/uhyM-bhzFsI?t=607

Not if you live in Europe thanks to GDPR.

If you consent to that traffic data being uploaded, the company would have to explicitly say what it's for and can't just sell it in its raw form, with your personal information attached, nor used for profiling.

I'd think a set of highly detailed house maps with strong indicators of traffic patterns and pet ownership together with vacuum movement patterns would be great for optimizing the cleaning experience by enabling you to identify cleaning strategies that clean quickest.

https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/xiaomi-mi-robot-hacked/20632/

The talk at 34C3 at 10m:00

https://youtu.be/uhyM-bhzFsI?t=607

I had the same exact though. This is just crazy - it is also able to take pictures and upload them to the cloud.

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