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Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

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Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#581

Post by stocksinsmocks »

rgovostes wrote: post #151

One of the privacy fears stoked about iRobot years ago was about them "selling maps of your home to the highest bidder" for advertising purposes. E.g., https://gizmodo.com/roombas-next-big-step-is-selling-maps-of... The premise still strikes me as a ridiculous one: Am I possibly a more affluent customer because there is a high pile rug under the coffee table? How much would Charmin pay to know I have two rooms with t…

Would the US security leviathan give away other people’s money for highly current floor plans of every residence in the country just on the 1-in-a-million chance they decide to kick in your door and shoot your dog? Probably.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#582

Post by CamperBob2 »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #519
IAmBroom wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Why doesn't the state protect everyone from ___?" is a naive question. Almost anything can be a significant security issue for the state. They have to carefully choose where they are going to spend effort & money. And they pick whatever will keep them safely in power... which never ever includes "strict regulation of vacuum cleaners".

> which never ever includes "strict regulation of vacuum cleaners but has routinely included "network and encryption related technologies". It's just that these two worlds now, amazingly and probably incorrectly, overlap.

The government's idea of regulating encryption-related technologies is to prohibit anyone but the government from using them. No, thanks.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#583

Post by dylan604 »

happyopossum wrote: post #570
dylan604 wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know anyone with pets that shed a lot? Most of my shedding pet friends try to vacuum daily, and if a day is missed it is very obvious. People that don't vacuum that frequently, I'd assume, are also the type of people that don't clean a litter box for a week instead of daily.

3 dogs, 3 cats. 45 seconds with a broom once a day does the trick…

I love these exaggerations. It doesn't help the conversation at all. Sort of like the recipes that say it takes "a couple of minutes" to brown onions.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#584

Post by iAMkenough »

ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #565
standardUser wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's policy is to submit to nearly all requests made by the federal government, though they get substantial credit for resisting some requests. This of course depends on the decisions made by current leadership, which can and will change (while the phone in your pocket remains the same).

The problem is that not all governments constrain themselves to only use requests and/or allow companies to challenge said requests. And that's at least what you get dealing with Apple and the USA (most of the time).

(Most of the time) is as true as you trust the federal government that demonstrably lies and “loses” records whenever it feels is convenient for them.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#585

Post by SoftTalker »

IAmBroom wrote: post #500
BigTTYGothGF wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think they want to see the inside of your house, and what do you think they'd be able to do with the information?

"Your" here means "anyone". The inside of a lawmaker's house? A general's? A CEO's? Why would anyone ever want insider information, including possible blackmail evidence, from them?

People like that have a cleaning service, they don't do their own housework. And ironically, the cleaning service is far better equipped to plant surveillance devices or exfiltrate information than a robot vacuum gadget.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#586

Post by palata »

a456463 wrote: post #568
cyp0633 wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US-designed iPhones have at least 2 cameras, some microphones, and biometric sensors. From this point, everyone outside the US should stop using iPhones to prevent surveillance from the American empire. From another angle, the iPhones are primarily made in China AND India via third-party factories, so no one should ever use iPhones any more. You have the right to concern about privacy, but that's not how it works.

This is a bullshit argument. At least the OS on iphones is american. For IOT devices it isn't the same.

Which is why the parent said "for anyone outside the US". Of course for anyone in the US, at least Apple is a US company. But that only works for people in the US :-).

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#587

Post by Arch-TK »

cyp0633 wrote: post #550
cs702 wrote: post #254

According to the Financial Times, Roomba has sold more than 40 million robotic devices, most of them robotic vacuum cleaners.[a] Many of those vacuum cleaners have cameras, can move around on their own, and are connected to the Internet. If they're taken offline, they stop working. Many have microphones too. The new Chinese owner will get control of a network of tens of millions Internet-connected, autonomously mobil…

US-designed iPhones have at least 2 cameras, some microphones, and biometric sensors. From this point, everyone outside the US should stop using iPhones to prevent surveillance from the American empire. From another angle, the iPhones are primarily made in China AND India via third-party factories, so no one should ever use iPhones any more. You have the right to concern about privacy, but that's not how it works.

Let's put aside whether you can trust apple for a moment.

Where the hardware comes from is much less of a risk than the fact than where the locked down firmware and software comes from.

Yes the west's over-dependence on Chinese hardware is a liability, but what's easier? Compromising hardware or compromising software? If you don't know, I'll tell you, it's the latter.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#588

Post by palata »

Mouvelie wrote: post #555
cyp0633 wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US-designed iPhones have at least 2 cameras, some microphones, and biometric sensors. From this point, everyone outside the US should stop using iPhones to prevent surveillance from the American empire. From another angle, the iPhones are primarily made in China AND India via third-party factories, so no one should ever use iPhones any more. You have the right to concern about privacy, but that's not how it works.

How does it work then ? Explain us how the US, China, and India don't abuse of surveillance on whoever they can, please.

Not the OP, but I understood it as "anyway we're screwed, and if you're okay with the company in question being in your country, Apple is okay only for people in the US".

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#589

Post by jacobsenscott »

prmoustache wrote: post #421
cs702 wrote: post #254

According to the Financial Times, Roomba has sold more than 40 million robotic devices, most of them robotic vacuum cleaners.[a] Many of those vacuum cleaners have cameras, can move around on their own, and are connected to the Internet. If they're taken offline, they stop working. Many have microphones too. The new Chinese owner will get control of a network of tens of millions Internet-connected, autonomously mobil…

I don't think there are tens of millions still in use. Unless you design your house and buy your furnitures taking these roomba into account, they get stuck nearly every where or at the first sock left on the ground by someone in your household. They have a number of wearable most owner will not even want to replace and will start being inefficient rather quickly. Add to that some battery wear and I don't think there…

Yeah - they don't work well at all. And work from home is definitely incompatible with roombas. Those things are loud and run for a long time. Both ours are in the storage room collecting dust.

Re: Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges

#590

Post by lsch1033 »

pintxo wrote: post #402
georgeecollins wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worry a lot about privacy in general but its hard for me to figure out the danger posed by my roborock. I suppose it has the floor plans of my house and knows we vacuum on Saturdays. It doesn't seem to know if the object passing by is me or my cat. Yes its on my wifi but so are half a dozen other foreign made gadgets. What is the concern?

In a scenario, where the US and China go to an actual shooting war, moving a couple million high-energy-density devices near the most flammable object in a houshold and purposefully setting the device on fire would be an interesting new variety of shock and awe. Not too new actually, thinking about the mossad pager attack.

Exactly! This is why some Chinese people are avoiding iPhones at all cost.
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