Company Behind “Smart” Vibrator To Pay $3.75M In Settlement

The makers of an internet-connected sex toy who were accused of violating users’ privacy have agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a federal lawsuit.

Standard Innovation, makers of the We-Vibe smart vibrator, agreed to the settlement [PDF] this week, closing the book on allegations that the company improperly tracked customers’ use of the sex toy, including which vibration settings they selected.

According to the class-action lawsuit [PDF] filed last September, a 2014 update to the We-Vibe made it possible for Standard Innovation to collect consumers’ usage information — such as how often and how long the item was used. This data, according to the complaint, was then sent to the company’s servers.

In all, the suit claims Standard Innovation breached Illinois consumer fraud laws and the federal Wiretap Act by programming We-Connect — a service that connects users and their partners remotely — to “contemporaneously monitor, intercept, and transmit” data sent to the We-Vibe devices from consumers’ smartphones.

Customers claim, according to the suit, that they would not have purchased the vibrator had they known their actions would be monitored, collected, and transmitted.

The proposed settlement, which must still be approved by the court, would require Standard Innovation to destroy the data it collected from users and cease collecting emails and personal user information.

Of the $3.75 million settlement, Standard Innovation will designate $3 million for people who downloaded the app and used it with the We-Vibe device, with individuals receiving about $10,000 each.

The remaining $750,000 would be split between people who purchased the devices alone, with individuals receiving about $199 each.

A rep for Standard Innovation tells the Chicago Tribune that the company, which denied wrongdoing in the settlement, believes the settlement is “fair and reasonable.”

“At Standard Innovation we take customer privacy and data security seriously,” the rep said. “We have enhanced our privacy notice, increased app security, provided customers more choice in the data they share, and we continue to work with leading privacy and security experts to improve the app.”

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