July 25, 2017 - News Post

Roombas have been mapping out customer homes for years, and now those maps are for sale to the highest bidder.

Yeeeeaaah. Nothing creepy about that.

If you’re not familiar, the Roomba is an automated vacuum cleaner that zigzags around your floor, piling dirt into lines until it gets stuck or clogged.

I know privacy advocates are fighting a losing battle, that whatever privacy we have left is quickly being sold, that intrusion has become a way of life... But I must admit, I was genuinely surprised to see a shitty toy vacuum company selling maps of customer homes. If I hired someone to clean who turned around and sold maps of every room in my house, I could probably call the police. But this is a tech company, so I look forward to them being praised as “innovative” and “disruptive”.

Sure, it’s one small thing. It’s one small company selling one small bit of personal data, and it’s not like most of us even own a Roomba. Still, it’s part of a larger trend. This isn’t an isolated incident by one small company.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum.

-Jeff