The Canadian maker of an internet-connected sex toy has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle claims that it collected users' data without their permission.
The We-Vibe Rave, from Ottawa-based Standard Innovation, is a Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-compatible vibrator that allegedly recorded settings and usage data to transmit to the company's servers, according to Canadian newswire Postmedia.
Two women filed a class-action lawsuit against Standard Innovation last fall, claiming that the company's data collection violated their privacy rights. Standard Innovation settled without admitting wrongdoing, Postmedia reported.
Under the terms of the settlement, each customer who bought a We-Vibe and used its companion app, called We-Connect, is entitled to up to $10,000. Customers who didn't use the app can claim up to $199.
Standard Innovation said in a statement that it has also agreed to change its privacy policy and data collection practices to allow customers to use its app without supplying personally-identifiable information and to opt out of sharing anonymous data.
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"Customers do not provide their name, email or phone number or other identifying information to use We-Connect," the company said in a statement emailed to PCMag.
The We-Vibe website was not accessible on Tuesday afternoon, but the product's page on Amazon offered a few for sale from third-party retailers starting at $70, and explained how We-Connect works: in addition to controlling the vibrator remotely via the internet (say, if your partner is in another city), a "Sync" function allows you to coordinate the vibrator to your music playlist.
The We-Vibe settlement comes a little more than one month after TV maker Vizio admitted to a similar data collection program that spied on users. Vizio agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle those claims.