After years of financial difficulties, iRobot – the brand behind the first commercially successful robot vacuum cleaner, Roomba – has been acquired by Chinese contract manufacturing company Picea.
Shortly after the news broke, company co-founder Helen Greiner said in an interview with Bloomberg that she found it “bizarre” that there hadn’t been a big public outcry that iRobot’s data and information “belonged to a Chinese company.” [quote at 7.50].
Cohen directed me to the security statements posted on the company’s website (I couldn’t access the US policy at the time of writing, but the UK policy was available to read) and assured me that customers could easily remove their name from iRobot’s list if they wished.
“We protect their data. Everything is encrypted and that’s how we run the business,” he told me. “We are the most secure of all and we have actually won awards because of our ability to protect data, protect [against] breaches, but more importantly, to protect the data in terms of where it is hosted.
No change
Another statement sent to me from iRobot on the subject says: “No changes have been made to the way iRobot collects, maintains, stores or uses personal information in connection with the reorganization transaction, and we do not anticipate any such changes. Any updates to our existing data processing or security activities will always be made in accordance with our Online Privacy Policy (found here) and applicable laws.”
Cohen also confirmed to me that current Roomba owners don’t need to worry about product and app support for their robots, and that everything will work as usual immediately after the buyout. Beyond that, he feels very optimistic about iRobot’s future with Picea. Watch this space.
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