Preventing pesky privacy risks that can purloin your pleasure

It’s so not fun when even a casual customer service query can put one’s personal information at risk. That’s what happened to 600 customers of Tenga Store USA, a branch of the popular Japanese sex toy manufacturer. According to TechCrunch, a hacker recently gained access to one employee’s email account, and thus to personal details of hundreds of people who are just trying to figure out their single-use, Keith Haring-inspired Tenga Eggs.

Of course the company promptly notified consumers of the hack and strengthened their security and email systems in order to protect consumer privacy. Customers of Lovense, another respected sex toy company, were in a similar pickle last year, though not through hacking. In this case, internal security flaws were to blame, potentially exposing 20 million user emails.

Talk about a buzz kill! So what’s a pleasure-craving consumer to do?

Internet of Dongs to the rescue

It should be apparent to the average toy user that we can no longer enjoy the many benefits of sex tech without potentially risking exposure of identity details and other intimate information, however most people have no idea there could even be a problem with purchasing a toy online, contacting customer service if the thing won’t behave, or through connecting it to another device or internet platform.

Fortunately, there is help. Enter the Internet of Dongs (IoD) project, created by a group of public-spirited internet security researchers. Honestly, I have seldom come across a more important consumer resource! A particularly important part of IoD’s mission is:

“to establish bridges to the vendors of these devices and educate them on security, privacy and best practices, thus raising the security bar on the industry as a whole. The other part is to educate consumers about choosing devices responsibly to protect themselves. This involves what they should look for in products and from vendors to safeguard their privacy and security.”

The website features a Dong List of devices they’ve already evaluated, as well as a link to the frequently updated Index of Sex Toys (IoST). IoD has a guide for researchers interested in reporting sex toy security vulnerabilities. Their device vulnerability reports (DVE Reports) can be found here.

Questions to ask before buying: IoD’s recommendations

Before purchasing your next sex toy, check out the IoD project’s useful list of consumer questions. Here are the first five. Please go to the actual page and read the rest.

• “Does this device include remote control capabilities?
• Am I comfortable with any data from my remote usage being passed through the company’s servers, even if encrypted?
• Am I comfortable with any intimate data being sent over the internet regardless of the security measures in place?
• Does the device’s software require an email address, phone number or other personally identifying information to register or otherwise use the software?
• Am I comfortable with the vendor knowing this personally identifying information along with any other data that may be sent to their servers such as usage data?”

Though Tenga’s incident was due to hacking of customer service emails, not toy connectivity, it’s probably true that problems connecting toys via Bluetooth might make up a large number of complaints to vendors, thus adding to user vulnerability.

IoD is working with several sponsors, partner vendors, and supporters, including the following NSFW sites: Pornhub, The Traveling Tickle Trunk, Lovense, Kiroo, OhMiBod, and Mystery Vibe. We can assume that companies working with IoD to address vulnerabilities probably have a heightened awareness of customer privacy and security.

Unfortunately, there is a downside of the IoD site. Its blogs and articles only date from 2016-2024. Though these articles have historical value, and some are even amusing, this lack of updates is concerning. I only hope that content on the other pages is kept more current.

Focus on pleasure, but keep informed

It is ultimately up to consumers to stay informed about safety and privacy risks and to protect ourselves as best as we can. Asking questions and seeking information is one of the best ways to start, but vetting the accuracy of the answers we get might be difficult.

Sex tech advances quickly. Keeping up with it can be difficult. New features often result in new terminology. As product manuals become more complex—using unfamiliar terms and newer apps—fewer users might understand them. Therefore starting with basic questions about privacy can at least help us choose the level of sex tech that enables us to feel comfortable, relaxed, and ready for private, intimate pleasures.

And that’s how it should be—now and in the future—no matter how sophisticated our sexual technologies become.

Image Source: A.R. Marsh using Ideogram.ai.

The post Turbulence at Tenga: Sex Toy Company Hacked appeared first on Future of Sex.

If true, it could be a massive violation of privacy—and trust

Two New York residents have filed a civil lawsuit against Kink.com’s  parent company, Cybernet Entertainment LLC, alleging serious breaches of confidentiality. Kink.com is a site created to promote and distribute BDSM content to adults, including paying members.

According to Top Class Actions, the suit alleges that the site collected and subsequently provided Google with data on its users’ preferences and viewing habits.

The plaintiffs, identified only as C.C. and S,H., filed their suit in the California Federal court in early June of this year. The suit accuses Kink.com of breaking several laws, notably the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which forbids secretly gathering information for the purpose of sharing it with other sites, platforms, or companies.  

In secret, without permission?

By illicitly installing Google tracking software on its site, the plaintiffs say Kink.com made a “devil’s bargain” with the tech giant to collect private data from users without their consent: 

Kink never obtained informed consent from plaintiffs or class members to share the sensitive information it collects with third parties, let alone with Google, the largest advertiser and compiler of user information in the world.

While C.C. and S.H. are the plaintiffs,the suit is open to every Kink.com visitor who believes their privacy may have been similarly violated. 

A giant misstep?

Like most people who enjoy online adult content, the suit’s plaintiffs expected Kink.com wouldn’t reveal their sexual interests, let alone pass along their personal information to anyone else.  

RECOMMENDED READ: A Great Big Kinky Tomorrow: What BDSM Might Be Like in Years Ahead

The violations are particularly egregious as, Kink.com isn’t a relatively unknown site but one of the largest distributors and producers of BDSM related videos in the world.  

In fact, until 2018, when its founder, Peter Acworth, sold the company to Cybernet Entertainment, Kink.com used to own San Francisco’s history Armory, converting it into an impressive number of uniquely decorated webcam studios and fully equipped production facilities.

That being said, you’d think an enterprise so heavily steeped in BDSM culture would respect the community’s long-standing, guiding principle that nothing should ever be done without the clear consent of those involved.

Callous disregard

The suit’s plaintiffs assert Kink.com’s alleged privacy breach has resulted in severe emotional distress, causing them to no longer fully trust that visiting other sites won’t also result in their private data being sold or exchanged without their permission.

As the case progresses, details may emerge as to how C.C. and S.H. learned their data was collected and given to Google. If so, other users may discover if their secret, sexual interests were—or what could make it even worse—merely given away.

Consent, consent, consent

If this court case does expose Kink.com’s betrayal, the BDSM community should do everything in its power to call the site, its parent company, and more than anything, its owner, Peter Acworth.

While every adult content site should, or rather must, do everything possible to ensure their users’ privacy is kept confidential, it’s a hundred times more reprehensible when the site serves a sexual minority community dedicated to the importance of asking and receiving permission and consent.

Hypocrisy in action?

As of this writing, Kink.com hasn’t publicly commented on the current suit.  However, in 2019, the site was updated to include a series of guidelines on consent. Mike Stabile, Kink.com’s spokesperson, acknowledged the guidelines in Jezebel as, “the reality of a rapidly changing adult industry that used to revolve around big studios and contract stars.”

Ironic in light of C.C. and S.H.’s suit—especially if found to have merit—the guidelines states:

At a time where there is less institutional knowledge and less guidance than in years past, the need to ensure that consent is being discussed in our community is more evident than ever—especially as a new generation of producers are making adult videos, not to mention rough sex or BDSM. 

Hopefully, Kink.com actually abided by its consensuality stance, and will prove they did not and never will violate customer confidentiality and the community’s faith that this company and its new owners will always respect what BDSM stands for.

But should they be found guilty … Well, then Kink.com should be vocally, relentlessly called out, just as any physically or emotionally unsafe person must be.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

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Sextoy manufacturers and customers need to take customer data protection seriously

Whether wearing BlueTooth-enabled chastity devices to experience the power-exchange pleasures of sexual denial play or enjoying the mutually interactive possibilities of Internet-connected sextoys, the new world of smart sextech devices is well on its way to enhancing the sex lives of millions of people.

But what happens if a hacker infiltrates the app controlling your chastity device holding your genitalia for ransom—or threatens to expose your interactive self-pleasuring activities unless they receive a certain amount in Bitcoins?

In a study conducted by Dr. Mark Cote, Dr. William Seymour, Dr. Jennifer Pybus, and Dalia Mariasin for the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, these and other types of sex toy hacking involving cloud-based services were explored. 

Add to that Apple allowing the first-ever adult content app to be downloaded on their iPhone platforms in the European Union and the ever-new round of remote sex toys being introduced seemingly every day, we can’t but wonder where we are, mid-way into this decade, in securing our ever-more technologically advanced sex toys and adult apps?

Buyer beware

As this year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) illustrated, a slew of new desktops and laptops featuring new chips running ever-advancing-AI software are well on their way, not to mention a slew of next-generation handhelds and a bevy of state-of-the-art BlueTooth-enabled sextoys

But connecting with a partner via the net, while something many have been doing for quite a while and surely a way of playing that opens all kinds of interesting sexual positive possibilities, also throws the lid of Pandora’s Box wide open.

As Adrian Gonzalez, Editorial Director of ToyChats, reminds us, “I hate to admit it, but sex toy apps aren’t immune to data breaches.” 

Emphasizing the need for users to be more security conscious, Adrian added, “It goes without saying, but make sure you’re on a private network when you’re using a sex toy app. You’re putting yourself and any virtual partners at risk if you’re using somebody else’s WiFi or a public network.”

How we got here

By the end of the new century’s first decade, sextoy manufacturers had begun equipping their products with a range of new, interactive technologies, including Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.

However, while this period also saw a decrease and eventual near cessation of phthalate use in those same products—notably the result of Ulrich Krieg’s research—many of those same companies tended to fall behind in terms of securing their online-capable toys.

Companies start to step up

Fortunately, a growing number of sextech industry leaders are beginning to prioritize customer security more seriously.

“Safety and privacy are top priorities for us at Ohdoki, and we’ve built our devices with key safeguards to protect users from modern digital threats,” Ohdoki’s CEO, JP Wilhelmse, manufacturer of The Handy stroker and Oh! Vibrator told us.

For instance, Wilhelmse’s company has implemented new methods to help ensure user security and anonymity, starting by giving new customers the option to set up a personal account or not.  

Additionally, rather than storing personal data, Ohdoki now utilizes a unique, end-to-end encryption system to ensure that user data and personal communications remain fully protected.

Wilhelmse further summed up their dedication to consumer security, stating:

A strong database with a strong defending system is required for us to keep our app safe, I’m not an I.T. professor so it’s hard for me to explain this, however, what I know the fact is that the personal information was sold by someone in 99% of total cases, not hacked. This means that if we don’t sell this information, the chance of hacking is super low. And we never do something illegal.

Together we stand

In the current climate of what NexGenus calls “frictionless shopping,” a consumer state providing a “seamless customer journey where every touchpoint, from product discovery to checkout, is intuitive and efficient,” it’s becoming clear that most people aren’t fond of waiting for anything—let alone when purchasing smart sextoys. 

Leading, with the proliferation of rapid online checkouts, to suppliers needing to have their products ready to ship at a moment’s notice, but hopefully not sacrificing customer security in the process.

Although some companies are taking steps to keep their transactions and sales private, Adrian Gonzalez also reminds us that it’s just as imperative for buyers to remain acutely aware of their security risks and not let their desires get in the way of their common sense. 

Take control 

Adding to this Caveat Emptor approach, this ExpressVPN article provides even more salient (some might even say obvious) points, such as customers needing to adequately research not just what they are buying but who they are buying it from:

Has this manufacturer suffered security breaches, and, if so, how quickly and effectively were they addressed fixing these problems. These days, you don’t have to dig too deep for reviews…especially negative ones.

Another crucial security measure is to be aware of how a company acquires and uses customer information.

As for how to prevent someone from accessing your smart playthings, ExpressVPN recommends services such as theirs, writing, “VPN will not remove the risk of a hacker infiltrating your sex app maker’s servers. But it will prevent snooping on where exactly it is you might be going when connected to a WiFi sex toy.”

Lastly, be cautious when electronically sharing your Internet-of-things devices, particularly with companies that have a less-than-stellar security rating.  

Be smart, play safe

In the end, what we’ve always needed is well-reasoned, transparent communication between manufacturers and purchasers—no matter what the product is, where, why, and how it’s used—combined with customers also developing some much-needed shopping smarts.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Securing Sextech: The Importance of Keeping Your Private Life—Private appeared first on Future of Sex.

“Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets” –Paul Tournier

Between our need to feel protected and not wanting to be observed without permission, privacy as a social concern, or perhaps as a fundamental right, is skyrocketing.  

What isn’t as frequently discussed is the—admittedly unusual—idea of everyone having the ability to watch everyone else, which could make us emotionally healthier, more open towards our own and other people’s sexuality, and overall much happier.

Living in clear houses

Initially postulated in David Brin’s non-fiction book of the same name, a Transparent Society is one where corporations and governments may keep an eye on us, but we, their citizens and consumers, can do the same to them: a system of surveillance checks and balances designed to keep us safe while preventing our privacy abuses.

Dubbed “sousveillance” by futurist inventor Steve Mann, it’s essentially about the observed having the same rights and access to monitoring technologies as the observer.

Though media depictions of transparent societies aren’t common—and when they are prevalent, a percentage aren’t positive—there have been a couple of notable exceptions.  

While differing dramatically from Dave Eggers‘s novel from which it’s based, the James Ponsoldt-directed film The Circle features a decidedly malevolent corporation whose motto, “privacy is theft,” reveals its plans to gain access to and from there exploit, the entirety of their users’ personal data.  

At the end, this plan is thwarted by the main protagonist, played by Emma Watson, who turns the tables by exposing the corporate head’s own secrets.  

What’s unusual about the movie is its ending, which, rather than implying we should have a right to keep our secrets to ourselves, appears to advocate for the opposite.

In other words, a world where bliss isn’t found in ignorance but instead apparently lies in knowing, thus accepting, everything about everyone by choosing to open our lives to public scrutiny.  It’s a world where piracy isn’t theft, but sharing and openness is an act of giving.

You’re not the only one

We’ve all felt it at one time or another or, if you are particularly unfortunate, a dominating, nearly inescapable awareness that you’re a freak, a weirdo.

For when you look out at the world, your desires and your sexual needs aren’t represented, or when they are, they—and people like you—are mocked and humiliated.

But what if you knew, without a doubt, you aren’t and have never been the only person like that?  Growing up in a society without privacy, where anytime you wanted, you could see there are a thousand, a million people with your passions in common would mean no more painful secrets, suffering in silence, or experiencing shame or guilt.

RECOMMENDED READ: Seeing Is Believing: Will AR Plus a Social Credit System Lead to a Sexual Utopia?

Hypocrites, who used to ruin people’s lives for the same things they also did behind closed doors, would be exposed—and previously invisible or endlessly denied sexual crimes revealed. For that matter, a fully transparent society could make lies or deceit obsolete: “I’d like to call the following thousand witnesses to the stand.”  

Loneliness?  Say, “I want to be spanked,” and an equally large number of ready, willing, and excited playmates would knock at your (virtual) door.  

But will they be safe to play with?  Naturally, you—and your millions of friends—will have thoroughly vetted them beforehand.  

A privacy-less world could also help reshape social mores for the better: why even consider acting inappropriately when everyone’s watching you and everybody else? Honesty and understanding could eventually become second nature, as innate to humanity as breathing or as invisibly automatic as our beating hearts.

No need to throw stones

A transparent society is certainly an intriguing concept. If anything, it directly challenges many of our long-held beliefs, like the sanctity of privacy and our fears of being observed—and judged.

However, don’t forget that the most outrageous concepts and important discussions surrounding them can also lead to groundbreakingly original solutions to otherwise impossible-seeming problems.

Who knows?  Maybe I’m not the only person who feels the emotional, sexual, and social possibilities an open society might offer are worth considering—that a degree of awkwardness and social discomfort is a small price to pay for a world where shame, guilt, or loneliness are outdated concepts?

Proving my point, in a transparent society, I wouldn’t feel crazy or wrong, guilty or ashamed because I’d know and be comforted by the fact that I’m not—never, ever—for thinking this way.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

The post Through the Looking Glass: How a Transparent Society Might Help Reduce Sexual Shame appeared first on Future of Sex.

Be careful who—and what—you share your personal information with

Along with what seems to be the meteoric rise of artificially intelligent software companions is an increasingly urgent call to be extra-cautious when using them.

“To be perfectly blunt, AI girlfriends are not your friends,” wrote Misha Rykov, a researcher for Privacy Not Included.  “Although they are marketed as something that will enhance your mental health and well-being, they specialize in delivering dependency, loneliness, and toxicity, all while prying as much data as possible from you.”

There’s a particular concern of how certain chatbot developers address customer privacy. The same article points out that this situation can sometimes be traced to how amazingly fast the industry is growing.

Light in tone though it may be, Privacy Not Included puts it well, “In their haste to cash in, it seems like these rootin’-tootin’ app companies forgot to address their users’ privacy or publish even a smidgen of information about how these AI-powered large language models (LLMs)—marketed as soulmates for sale—work. We’re dealing with a whole ‘nother level of creepiness and potential privacy problems.”

Who’s good, bad, or worse regarding user privacy

Each of the eleven chatbots Privacy Not Included reviewed failed at least one important user security issue, while others, such as Replika, raised a host of red flags.

Even those scoring better didn’t manage to completely escape concern.  For instance, EVA AI Chat Bot & Soulmate‘s privacy policy states “We neither rent nor sell your information to anybody” though when it comes to asking personal questions of its users it can be disturbingly persistent.

Another security related issue is openness: not necessarily when it comes to the company itself, its use of customer information, or whether or not its product site is secure, but how its chatbots operate.

RECOMMENDED READ: Tell Me No Lies: The Controversy Over Erotic Chatbots Continues

“We found no transparency into how their AI works,” About Eva AI Chat Bot & Soulmate, Privacy Not Included writes, “to get to know you and communicate with you, no way that you as the user might be able to control that AI if it were to say, become abusive or harmful, and we also couldn’t find any information about how your chats are used to train their AI and if you can opt out of this.”

Of all the chatbots they reviewed, Replika earned negative points in every category from Data Use to its Artificial Intelligence, a sentiment equally shared by other chatbot sites and sex tech journalists. 

Privacy Not Included breaks down Replika’s numerous security and privacy flaws, stating “Users beware: AI chatbot friend might not be exactly private. Your behavioral data is definitely being shared and possibly sold to advertisers. Their security does not meet our Minimum Security Standards.”

Obviously, the main takeaway from that is, according to security advocates, Replika and a good percentage of other chatbots on their review list, failed to provide even the most basic level of user security and data privacy.  

Too fast, too sloppy, too greedy

It’s a safe bet most people are already familiar with how fast erotic chat and emotional companion bots are being developed.  Over at the Chatbot, it’s predicted the basic technology will approximately grow 23% a year.

This boom will likely continue the trend of chatbot companies deciding it’d be easier and, of course, more profitable to cut corners; putting their customer’s privacy and data at risk, or make yet more money by overtly or covertly selling what their chatbots learn.

Don’t expect—demand

Faced with what seems to be the insurmountable challenge of attempting to rein in these and other chatbot developers’ inability or unwillingness to respect their customers’ personal data, it’s easy to become disheartened; to feel there’s nothing to be done but hope for something like government intervention or forcing the industry to better police itself.

Not that we shouldn’t continue the fight—while making it a priority not to do more harm than good in the process—but to also hit companies like the eleven on Privacy Not Included’s list where it’ll hurt them the most: their bottom lines.  

By getting the word out about them and other irresponsible chatbot developers, consumers can let other users know that chatbot promises of emotional or erotic companionship are not worth giving up our right to privacy.  

Do it often and loud enough and we may also get the chatboy industry to realize personal data isn’t a revenue stream and improved user security could be a huge selling point—that customers aren’t products to be exploited but people to be valued and respected.

Image Sources: Depositphotos

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