Stop your moaning, says maker of buggy Bluetooth sex toy Sex-toy maker Lovsense has told its customers to stop moaning about one of its products, which recorded audio of users as they – ahem – played, and stored it on their Android phones. News of the recording emerged on Reddit where an entity by the name of “tydoctor” wrote “control vibrator app (used to control remote control sex …
So does the line of thought run like, "Hey darling lets go to the bar and shoot some pool. Don't forget your vibrator"? Also, wouldn't your Significant Other masturbating away while you are trying to get your balls in line ever so slightly put your off your stroke?
“The file was a FULL audio recording six minutes long of the last time I had used the app to control my [significant other's] SO's remote control vibrator (We used it at a bar while playing pool).”
So rather than going for the easy pink he went for the difficult brown?
Cue the smutty jokes.
I just can't resist a cheap shot.
By the way, they also make a "Bluetooth-Enabled Butt Plug". I am not sure why you actually need to be able to remote control a butt plug, Perhaps it might gain some use with Extraordinary Rendition torture implementation .. "leave him with the butt plug switched on and let's go to lunch, I can always switch it off remotely".
Reminds me of some wag phoning a BBC local radio film show and asking for help in locating a cult classic: https://radiofail.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/fabulous-bbc-porn-film-request/
Honestly; a chat app added to controller for s/w for a sex toy???
This is exactly the kind of flesh eating disorder that will eventually cause the fall of civilisation.
If not nipped now (well after the bud unfortunately), sooner or later someone is going to decide a chat app or some other 'social' idiocy is required in some life or death piece of software like a nuclear power plant, introducing vulnerabilities or odd behaviour.
This is all down to the death of the KISS principle.
A few years ago I worked with someone who expressed an interest in a new toy that had just come out (pun not intended). It was an audio controlled vibrating toy that you could attach with a normal audio cable to your Mp3 player. However she had other ideas as her boyfriend didn't live locally and wanted to hook it up to her phone. That way she could enjoy herself whilst he talked to her long distance. No recording or app involved, you want to make it more enjoyable for her you just talk louder or shout.
A few years later I was going home on a virtually deserted bus late one night after a drink or three. There was a woman who was standing up despite there being a load of seats and only one other passenger besides me. I realised that she was for short spells having difficulty standing and wondered if she needed help. Then I spotted the other passenger had a small box in his hands and her difficulty was occurring when he was pressing the button. Oooh Matron!
Update 08:50 - [happy face] Ooh look at the pretty glowing lights!
Update 08:51 - [excited face] What does this button do?
Update 08:52 - [confused face] Even more flashing lights and now sirens - what a noisy place!
Update 08:53 - [sad face] Oops.
Update 08:54 - [ad] Nookbook recommends the cancer-curing properties of goji berry extract
> I'd imagine the audio to sound a lot like someone walking through a muddy field with mud up to their ankles in wellies.
Er, I think the whole point of this device is that you DON'T have to use your phone as a dildo...
There are already very simple apps for that. But unless you have a newer waterproof Apple model without headphone jack, they are a bit of a bitch to clean up
<_<
OK, I'm going to show too much knowledge here...
If you want to understand why this thing listens for sound, visit one of the "interactive webcam" sites (chaturb***, etc). You, as a viewer, can buy tokens to tip the girl*. Tipping has distinct sounds depending on value, the more you tip, the more the device reacts.
Running these webcam sites is a profitable business, taking ~50% typically. If you thought Uber was screwing its "workers", well, ...
*other performers may be available.
Tipping has distinct sounds depending on value
So you are suggesting either
a) this audio recording is a feature intended for the 'professional' 'business end'.
b) the company intends to monetise its products users in some way, offering the chance to reward with 'tips' instead of likes.
a) sounds rather unrealistic for (a), a professional version would make more ense.
b) sounds like a step to far. Even given exhibitionist tendencies, I doubt such an innovative social network would survive the first moral outrage.
My partner and I purchased and installed a Lovense device last Thursday and tried it out the following Saturday.
Not only was I (in a previous version of the app) not able to so much as pair my device to my phone without sharing location data with the app, the app would stop working altogether unless both access to my storage *AND* telephone, because the app wouldn't function without being able to read phone call status and/or make calls.
I wrote the company's security division an email about this yesterday (the Sunday following the purchase).
Within two days after we purchased the device there was a new version of the app, supposedly fixing the bug mentioned in this article (though I was unaware of what exactly was "fixed" in that new version.
Trying out the music function on Saturday I gave it access to my microphone.
The app might have started to overwrite the audio files (why there should be a backlog of these is beyond me anyway), but I found out yesterday (Sunday, after emailing the company about my security concerns) that it continuously records audio even while you're not actively using the app, when you're not using the audio function and while not actively connected to a device.
Unless you actively close the app down completely it will keep using the microphone and record everything that happens. (Not to mention the insane drain on my battery of >25% because it was continuously listening in on everything)
It is a vibrator, users should in my not-so-humble opinion be able to opt out from using functions that need permissions they're unwilling to give, and the app should be able to function just fine without any permissions other than using bluetooth.
I'm actually wondering if we should try to get our money back, as I'm really not looking forward to "another day another security concern".
Because even though I really don't care who knows that I own and use a sex toy, I do care that there could be a log of when I did something with it, what I did, where I used it, and perhaps even scarier what happened around me, regardless of whether or not it is "only" on my phone or on a company's servers.
As soon as data exists it can be compromised.
PS. I'm sorry for posting this anonymously, but I care very deeply about privacy.
I truly don't care who knows that I own a vibrator, but posting this under my name or a pseudonym that is connected to me in any way, shape or form to me would be something that gives away my partner's identity and it simply isn't up to me to decide whether or not my partner's identity is divulged here.
@AC
and the app should be able to function just fine without any permissions other than using bluetooth.
Fine in theory, but, starting with Android 6...
"To access the hardware identifiers of nearby external devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi scans, your app must now have the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION or ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION permissions:"
Which means even if that particular App is not interested in your current location, there will be a record of it on the phone and, depending on other settings, Google's servers will no doubt have a record of the location and Apps that were started
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