Amazon wants to buy the vacuum robot manufacturer iRobot – the IT giant would pay $1.7 billion for that. Security experts around the world are throwing their hands over their heads.

Internet giant Amazon wants to expand its range of smart household helpers. The group plans to take over the vacuum robot manufacturer iRobot for 1.7 billion US dollars – provided that it is officially permitted. This would mean that all Roomba brand products would belong to Amazon in the future. But Amazon would get more than just numerous new devices that can be reduced on Prime Day – because iRobot sits on your data treasure. Many experts fear that Amazon will probably lift it.

We are talking about exact floor plans for all customers, who let a suitably equipped robot drive through the apartments and houses. This ranges from simple maps that are created using a laser to very precise recordings that models such as the Roomba J7 record with a camera.

Cameras are used for cleaning – but not only

Officially, the cameras are used for the cleaning itself – because the improved detection of obstacles enables optimized navigation and thus more efficient working methods. For analysis purposes, the robot also sends the recordings to the manufacturer – and that arouses desire.

iRobot has made no secret of this for years. As early as 2017, an interview with “Reuters” said that there were plans to share the card data with third parties – provided the customer agreed to this. CEO Colin Angle said at the time: “There’s a whole ecosystem of things and services that the smart home can provide once you have a comprehensive map of the home that the user has shared.”

Researcher Ron Knox recently described the deal via Twitter as the “most dangerous, most threatening takeover in Amazon history” and a “nightmare”. In theory, Amazon could expand the data that has already been collected by devices such as the Echo Spot or other Alexa devices with a camera using the vacuum cleaner’s cards.

The resulting data set would be gigantic. And always up-to-date – because a vacuum robot remembers when furniture changes, carpets have been laid or other changes in the living situation occur. The office recently became a children’s room? Amazon would know that – and very quickly. A godsend for target group-oriented advertising.

“Whoever knows our most private things has power over us”

Caroline Krohn, Green Party politician and founder of the AG Sustainable Digitization, also knows how critical this purchase – and the use of such robots – could be. In an interview with the star, she explains: “We must all be aware that every company that we leave our data to can potentially misuse it. No matter how trustworthy it seems to us – we can at the latest with the sale of a company no longer control what happens to our data.”

In the case of one’s own home, this means, according to Krohn: “When our home is measured, our most personal area is measured. If we cannot see who knows how much about us, then we also do not know how this knowledge is used to describe us in the worst case, to manipulate and damage it. Whoever knows our private sphere has power over us. Whoever has power over us attacks our self-determination. That’s why no company should draw any knowledge from our private sphere and certainly not sell this knowledge.”

Is personal data protection even possible?

This raises the question of how data protection works when you buy a product from a brand that collects data – let’s say to improve the service or functionality – but then someone comes and accesses it. At this point, the IT security expert complains: “Today, we are far from having sufficient legal enforcement to prevent data from being passed on in a company transaction. Data stocks are often the reason for companies to buy other companies. It is extremely dangerous that data do not disappear; they are always there and can always be enriched.”

Another piece of bad news: the individual customer can do very little when it comes to deleting collected data from the negotiation pool when a company is sold. Caroline Krohn summarizes: “If politicians no longer make an effort to adequately enforce their own laws, there is still a lot the individual can do to prevent companies from giving up their data – they will not be able to defend themselves. The data hunger of corporations is immense . Structural changes are needed here.”

Amazon explains itself

Upon request, Amazon told the star that it was actually about the popular household helpers – not about data. Dave Limp, SVP Amazon Devices, said: “We know that saving time is important and that housework takes up precious time that could be better spent on something customers love. Over many years that has The iRobot team have proven they have the ability to reinvent the way people clean – with products that are incredibly practical and imaginative. Customers love iRobot products – and I look forward to working with the iRobot team to work together to make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable.”

The company also said: “The protection of customer data has always been very important to Amazon and we believe that we have managed our customers’ data very well in all our business areas. Customer trust is something that we value worked hard for – and work hard every day to keep it.” The company ruled out selling the data or using it for purposes that the customers would not explicitly agree to.

The warning of too many cameras in your own four walls does not limit Krohn to Amazon anyway. In the rooms of the author of this text, a copy of the Chinese brand Roborock makes its rounds – and also diligently films what is in the apartment, where the carpet is and where the furniture is changing. To be on the safe side, the star then asked whether that was particularly clever. The expert’s short but honest answer: “No.”

Which brings us full circle to the principle of data avoidance and data economy: The only way to defend yourself against espionage in the long term and effectively is to offer as little a target as possible for attack. For better or worse, you have to do without some comforts – and maybe just vacuum the apartment yourself.