Woman sues sex-toy maker for invading privacy

It's a tale for the ages: A woman buys a vibrator, uses it, and discovers the company that built it is tracking just what she does with it and how often. And yes, she's suing. In a class-action lawsuit representing what the Chicago Tribune reports is tens of thousands of users, the Illinois woman has marched her smart dildo to Chicago to sue sex-toy company Standard Innovation. She accuses the company, which is based in Ottawa, of consumer fraud, unjust enrichment, intrusion upon seclusion, and violating the Federal Wiretap Act and the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute—and she's asking for unspecified punitive damages, reports Vocativ.


 The woman reportedly bought her We-Vibe Rave for $130 in May and proceeded to use it several times before learning via a Defcon hacking convention talk (which CNET reported on last month) that her extremely personal usage was being scrutinized for marketing purposes by its maker, reports Courthouse News. The toy can connect to a smartphone for such activities as adjusting vibration type ("tease and please with custom vibes you create") and intensity ("build intensity"), not to mention allowing someone else to be at the controls from afar ("play together from anywhere in the world"). However she chose to use it, only she and Standard Innovation know, and in this case two is clearly a crowd. (A recent surge in sex-toy sales has a pop-culture connection.)