Big Brother may be closer than many people realize. Cameras are built into countless devices, meaning your phone is far from the only piece of technology capable of watching what happens around you.
Robot vacuums are among those devices. Many models use camera-based technology to map a home’s layout, helping them navigate around furniture, avoid obstacles and escape tight corners without getting stuck.
Greg Grispos, an associate professor of digital forensics at Arizona State University, told the Daily Mail that these appliances operate through a “two-way system.” They collect data over a wireless network, which users can then access through a mobile app.
“We have Big Brother in our home, effectively, and we’re either happy to invite Big Brother in, but once we do, we just need to realize what could happen,” Grispos said.
The devices can collect data, capture images and build a digital representation of a property. While that may appear to be a harmless feature designed to improve performance, information gathered by robotic vacuums has already produced serious consequences.
In Taiwan, one man used his robot vacuum’s technology to discover evidence that his wife was having an affair. He opened the app on his phone, accessed the vacuum’s live camera and saw his wife with another man.
He recorded the encounter and presented it as evidence in a civil lawsuit, accusing his wife of violating their marital agreement. He ultimately won $16,000 in the case.
The dispute took another turn when his wife filed a countersuit, arguing that he had recorded her without her consent.
Robotic vacuums, like the one pictured above, contain cameras that can create a digital footprint of a home
Advanced models can connect to a mobile app, allowing users to see what their vacuum sees even when they are away from home
Taiwanese law prohibits secretly recording or disclosing another person’s private or intimate information without consent. As a result, the husband was sentenced to prison.
“When I read that story, the first thing that struck me was that he got jail time. Five months of jail time for using this device to spy on his wife,” Hank Fradella, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University, told the Daily Mail.
Fradella said the legal landscape in the United States is more complicated because laws vary from state to state. The federal Wiretap Act bars the use of illegally obtained communications as evidence, but states differ over whether everyone involved must consent to a recording.
The Wiretap Act also applies only to audio, meaning silent video footage may still be admissible in court.
“The fact that one spouse is using it to spy on another spouse, did they both know that they had this device, or did one? Did one install a device without the other spouse knowing? Those are the sorts of questions that might govern how those cases unfold in the handful of states that require everyone to consent,” Fradella explained.
The question of consent becomes even less clear when a consumer buys a product and accepts its terms and conditions.
Asked whether that agreement could make the footage admissible in court, Fradella said: “That’s an open question.”
“Is constructive knowledge buried in the terms of service that nobody reads going to be enough, legally? Well, we’ll have to see,” he added.
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Jihun Joun, Hank Fradella and Greg Grispos discussed the complexities of robotic vacuums and legislative gaps surrounding the data they collect
Fradella noted that constructive knowledge and actual knowledge are not the same. Anyone who buys a data-collecting device and accepts its terms and conditions has constructive knowledge of the agreement, but that does not necessarily mean they understood what they signed.
He added that most consumers are unaware that they are agreeing to be captured in their home.
In 2022, MIT Technology Review found a series of shocking images online that appeared to have been taken by a Roomba robot vacuum.
The researchers found that employees at an artificial intelligence company tasked with labeling the images to improve the robot’s detection leaked them online.
The photos included a woman on the toilet, a child lying on the floor and various images of labeled household items.
A spokesperson for iRobot, which manufactures Roomba, told the Review at the time that the images were shared in violation of a written non-disclosure agreement with a service provider.
Grispos said researchers are still investigating the accuracy of what the camera depicts and the scope of what is collected.
Fradella noted a legislative gap in how manufacturers can use this data and what they must disclose.
‘The law is slow to evolve. The law will never keep pace with technology. It’s not possible. But there usually comes a time when a policy window opens,’ he added.
Robotic vacuums have a camera that can connect to smart devices, like the Toshiba model above
There is patchwork of laws in the US governing video and audio data that can be used in court
Fradella encouraged more transparency and a legal requirement that companies have to include a plain-language disclosure, so consumers are not sifting through a lengthy terms agreement before purchasing a product that collects data.
‘And let’s be transparent in a way that the average person opening up the device gets fair notice right away. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for,’ he added.
Jihun Joun, an assistant professor of interdisciplinary forensics at Arizona State University, noted that it is important to look for words such as ‘collect, download, store, and share’ when reading a terms agreement.
He cautioned that a disclosure letting consumers know that their data will not be sold does not necessarily mean that it will not be shared.
Grispos warned that not just robotic vacuums have these capabilities, and there is a price to pay for the latest technology.
‘There’s this technology, if you want it, it’s there, but it’s gonna come with a risk to your life,’ he added.