
Our Dental Insurance Sent Us “Free” Internet-Connected Toothbrushes - Cbasedlifeform
https://wolfstreet.com/2018/04/14/our-dental-insurance-sent-us-free-internet-connected-toothbrushes-and-this-is-what-happened-next/
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kylec
I read this article a few times, but I don’t see any quotes of actual
communication from either the dental insurance or the toothbrush company. If
the second box contained a letter with the purported message, why not post it?
If the author received warnings about being in violation of the “free” deal,
why not post them? It’s hard to tell here what has actually been said by the
insurance or toothbrush vendor vs inferred by the author.

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mar77i
As the business in these cases usually takes place in a form of lie of
omission, that _slightly_ bigger amount of data that is collected than
promised, that slight adrenaline kick which free IoT toothbrushes were
supposed to give OP that should have shut out all doubt about the situation.

And if anything _could_ proof excess data collection or whatever violation of
privacy or human reason, it wouldn't be found in the carefully curated
communication by any of the companies involved, but the source code that
comprises the software running this thing.

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madeofpalk
I think the point is though, that a major premis of the article was "you must
use these brushes and give us your dats OR ELSE", but it was entirely
unsubstaniated.

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mar77i
What's it called when you look for a general wisdom in an everyday situation?
ethics? That's all I see myself pointed to in the article.

Would we accept "OR ELSE" as a society? Should we? What laws does our
government come up with so we can make sure "OR ELSE" doesn't happen past the
certain extent it already does? Can we attach a metric for how much "OR ELSE"
is too much?

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madeofpalk
But the article doesnt put forward that the 'OR ELSE' case actually exists.
The author just hypothesis it (which is relevant itself!) and goes from there,
without providing any sort of hint of evidence.

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toddmorey
Your toothbrush certainly does not need an app. But what's the game, I wonder,
for the dental insurance company? I mean, _why_ do they want your data?
Aggregate data on habits? The chance to shape behavior (better habits) of
customers through nags, gamification, etc? Eventually rates tied to
compliance? Advertising opps?

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ImaCake
I would imagine the insurance company wants all of things you speculated on.
Insurances companies would love to know which statistical bucket you fall
into, so they can charge you more or less based on your risk of making a
claim.

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astrodust
"According to our records your purchases of junk food have increased 16.2%
since the previous calendar year. Your insurance premiums have been adjusted
accordingly."

This is some Black Mirror level garbage. If this becomes common place there'll
be an explosion of automation devices to "use" your toothbrush a couple of
times per day.

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jacob019
We should be so lucky that our data would be used to encourage healthy living
as opposed to to status quo.

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TrainedMonkey
Except when this would drive negative feedback loops. The following scenario
may not be frequent or probable, but it is definitely plausible:

1\. A rural area has few healthy eating options.

2\. Everyone who cares about this sort of thing and has the means to move away
leaves.

3\. Healthy stores close because there are not enough customers.

4\. Only junk food options remain. Now you've essentially increased societal
segregation...

This may sound ridiculous, but it is already seriously hard to eat healthy in
many areas of the country.

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dragonwriter
That's actually a _positive_ feedback loop.

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TrainedMonkey
You are right! I meant positive feedback driving a negative phenomenon.

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kchoudhu
I'd be more inclined to fall in line with their data collection practices if
dental insurance wasn't so utterly useless as an insurance product.

It almost always makes sense to save the premium payments up and pay out of
pocket for any dental services you need.

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ghaff
It primarily makes sense as a benefit to employees because they don't
generally get taxed on it. But because it's much closer to pre-paying than
actual insurance I'm guessing it doesn't usually make sense for individuals to
buy it.

ADDED: Interesting. It doesn't seem to be that expensive for an individual to
purchase. (Maybe $400 or so.) I guess the theory is that most people just end
up getting a cleaning or two and caps on policies reduce the amount you can
get paid back.

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ams6110
In my experience, it's worth it if you can get it at a good price e.g. through
a good employee benefit plan. Especially for a family with a couple of kids,
think about paying out-of-pocket for 8 to 10 cleanings a year, plus cavities,
the occasional broken tooth, etc. Regular dental care is actually pretty
important, as untreated tooth decay can cause a number of other health
problems.

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ghaff
Through an employer plan, it's usually pretty much a no brainer. I'm
admittedly a bit older but I get far more out of my dental plan every year
than I have to contribute through the occasional crown, etc.

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dlhavema
I have the same insurance/tooth brushes. The thing that got me was they sent
one of these for my 2 year old. Same thing as for me and my wife... they know
how old the kids are ( 2, 5 and 6 ).. you think they'd "think of the
children"...

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dingaling
This is a great counterpoint to Google's insistence that there doesn't need to
be a discrete "Internet access" permission in Android.

Their position is that if apps are all well-siloed then it doesn't matter if
they chat to the Cloud because they can't leak data to which you have denied
them access ( contacts, photos etc )

But that's only true for on-device data; here's an app that's relaying data
from a Bluetooth source. Data which the user would prefer it didn't send to
the Cloud. But without rooting there's no way to stop it doing so.

Please Google, give us the ability to block Internet access.

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BLanen
This guy doesn't understand the difference between free 'you're the product'
products and free-included-with-the-product, which is actually just the cost
included with the product you bought, in this case insurance. The language he
uses makes it seem as though it's OF COURSE going to be in the first category,
even though it's an extra with his insurance.

If they included a not-smart electric touthbrush, would he also use 'free' in
a suspicious way? No, because there wouldn't be an article because it would
just be part of the insurers marketing.

Kind of annoyed me.

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gcb0
And that is the number one selling feature of OneStar for car manufacturers in
the US (where leases are the top way to "sell" cars)

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craftyguy
Free toothbrushes? I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to make.

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giarc
I think they are talking about OnStar, the GM product that provides in person
concierge service in additional to vehicle maintenance information and crash
reporting. The connection to leasing they are trying to make is likely to say,
by installing OnStar they can monitor how the user drives the car. However,
the math behind leasing and payments etc is known upfront. When you return the
car, they don't just say "Well you owe us an extra $10,000 because you
accelerate hard."

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techman9
Maybe I missed something in the article, but how do you know the phone app is
transmitting data to the insurance company?

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dreta
I don't think you have to be very cynical to assume that's what's going on. It
might not be happening now, but once the adoption rate is sufficient there's
going to be a small update to the license, and the insurer will know enough to
set your rates exactly right.

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jstanley
Surprised to find an ad at the end of this article.

It also uses Google Analytics.

What was all that about spying on your users, again?

