Two women who alleged an Ottawa sex toy company was collecting real-time data on their use of an Internet-connected vibrator without their consent have reached a US$3.75 million settlement with the firm.
Under the terms of the settlement, Standard Innovation Corp. has agreed to destroy the personal information it has collected from users of the vibrator and stop collecting such information from now on. The vibrator, known as the We-Vibe Rave, could be paired with a smartphone app to allow a partner to control it remotely.
Last year the company claimed they were just using the data to improve user experience. They noticed many masturbators were using the highest setting, for example, which suggests people out there wanted more juice. Hmmm.
The company has admitted no wrongdoing but has agreed to empty its Canadian servers of all the vibrator-related personal info and stop collecting it in future.
About 300,000 customers purchased the vibrators, with about one-third of them using them with the app, according to the settlement agreement. App users are entitled to a share of a fund up to US$10,000 after expenses and fees, with anyone who purchased vibrator without using the app entitled to up to US$199.