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Couples seeking to spice up their love lives using the new generation of teledildonic devices could be targeted by hackers, according to a demonstration by an internet security expert.

Vibrators and other sex toys – some featuring cameras – can easily by hijacked by unscrupulous experts, bringing an uninvited third party into an adventurous couple's virtual bedroom.

The idea of connecting sex toys over the internet isn’t new – the idea was first seriously floated on August 17, 1998, when Warren J. Sandvick, Jim W. Hughes, and David Alan Atkinson patented the concept.

Before that, David Rothchild’s 1993 essay High-Tech Sex predicted the basic idea and tech pioneer Ted Nelson actually invented the word teledildonics back in 1975.

It’s only since the 1998 patent expired - in August 2018 - that the teledildonics gold rush has really got rolling, with companies such as Kiroo rushing to the market with internet-connected toys.

But where you have a gold rush, you also have a wild west – and there have already been cases of hackers invading teledildonic networks.

Italian infosec researcher Giovanni Mellini demonstrated in 2017 how a Bluetooth-enabled butt plug could be easily co-opted by hackers to allow unauthorised access. Another sex toy manufacturer, MysteryVibe, scrapped an early foray into teledildonics over security concerns.

Like a lot of ‘Internet of Things’ devices the Hush by Lovense uses a low-energy implementation of Bluetooth to allow sex partners to control each others’ pleasure remotely.

Mellini showed how an unscrupulous operator could easily get access to the device and commit a wireless sexual assault.

Similarly, Trend Micro demonstrated how they could hack into a web-connected vibrator at the CeBIT technology fair in Germany.



This was purely for a security demonstration – but there’s a serious potential behind it: "If I hack a vibrator it's just fun," said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer at Trend Micro. "But if I can get to the back-end, I can blackmail the manufacturer.”

The security ramifications become even more significant when you consider that some modern sex toys include webcams that can be used to enhance communication with teledildonic sex partners.





(Image: Siime Eye)

This opens up the possibility that hackers could access these devices and secretly spy on the users.

Manufacturers have been quick to stand behind the security of their products. Sex toy maker Lovense – makers of the compromised butt plug – issued a statement underlining their commitment to data security: "There are three layers of security," it said. "The server side, the way we transfer information from the user's phone to our server and on the client side.

"We take our customer's private data very seriously, which is why we don't serve any on our servers."

Searching for unsecured wi-fi networks is known as ‘wardriving’ and security expert Alex Lomas has coined the term ‘screwdriving’ for hacking a sex toy.

But is unauthorised access to a remote-controlled vibrator an electronic rape? Shanlon Wu, a US lawyer who specialises in sex crimes says it is.

He told Gizmodo: “The typical definition of a felony-type sexual abuse is an unconsented-to penetration,” whether that penetration is with a body part or with an object.

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He dismissed the idea that someone who was wearing a teledildonic device in a public place is essentially ‘asking for trouble,’ and offered this analogy to underline his point: “If I’m entering a boxing match ... I’m consenting, obviously, to the contest with my opponent. If he hits me, I can’t be yelling, ‘Oh, he assaulted me, he punched me!’ because we’re consenting to punching each other.



“But if his corner man, his manager, comes out and clocks me in the head during the match, they can’t argue, ‘You consented to a boxing match, so anybody gets to beat up on you.’” Similarly, if you consent to someone using a sex toy on you, that’s not an invitation for any passerby to join in.

Daily Star Online spoke to The Secret Barrister, an anonymous legal expert whose book Stories of the Law and How It's Broken lifts the lid on how the legal profession really works. We asked them to speculate on the legalities of such an incident.

They said: “My instinct is yes, it would be an offence.

“Consent would potentially be vitiated as the nature and quality of the act consented to (automated sexual activity) would have been replaced with an act not consented to (human-operated sexual activity).”



“It is arguably on similar lines to cases where deception as to an offender’s gender has the effect of rendering otherwise consensual activity non-consensual.”

The way is open for hackers to electronically assault a teledildonics enthusiast without even touching them.



