![](\"http:\/\/zapt1.staticworld.net\/images\/article\/2016\/08\/fitbit-charge-2_breakfast_0108_cmyk-100679592-primary.idge.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2017 08:54:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh good, another case of exploding devices. This time the culprit was a Fitbit Flex 2, which allegedly caused second-degree burns on a Wisconsin woman\u2019s arm. She was sitting and reading a book when her Fitbit \u201cexploded\u201d on her wrist. \u201cIt was either defective or really mad I was sitting still so long,\u201d she told<\/a> ABC News. \u201cEither way, it burned the heck out of my arm.\u201d<\/p>\n Dina Mitchell claimed<\/a> the Fitbit is \u201ctotally melted\u201d and her doctor \u201chad to pick pieces of plastic out of her wound.\u201d<\/p>\n A Fitbit spokesperson said this is the first time the company had heard of such a complaint; although it is \u201cextremely concerned\u201d and is investigating, the company sees \u201cno reason for people to stop wearing their Flex 2.\u201d<\/p>\n Since there is currently no indication this will turn into an epidemic like the exploding Galaxy Note 7 phones, there\u2019s no reason to remove a Fitbit unless, of course, you plan to commit some heinous crime such as murder someone. A Connecticut man arrested for murder didn\u2019t stop to consider that the \u201cdigital footprint\u201d from his wife\u2019s Fitbit would stop him from getting away with it.<\/p>\n Police say murdered wife’s Fitbit data doesn’t match husband’s alibi\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 40-year-old Richard Dabate claimed (pdf<\/a>) to have seen his wife, Connie, zip-tied to chair in the kitchen and shot to death by a tall man with a deep voice like \u201cVin Diesel\u201d who was wearing a \u201cdark green camouflaged suit with a mask.\u201d<\/p>\n But police say that Connie\u2019s Fitbit recorded her moving around nearly an hour after the time her husband said she was shot to death. She had worn it to exercise class in the morning and walked an additional 1,212 feet after arriving home before her activity stopped at 10:05 am. She had been shot twice with a .357 Magnum that her husband had purchased two-months earlier.<\/p>\n But the Fitbit data alone wasn\u2019t the only electronic device the cops used in the investigation. They checked out surveillance footage showing her movements near the gym and the time-stamp of her text messages. Once she arrived home, Connie had posted on Facebook. The cops also checked out the \u201cWhy I want a divorce\u201d notes on her cellphone.<\/p>\n On the morning of the murder, Dabate told police he forgot his laptop and that he received text alerts from motion and door sensors on his home alarm system; in one of many inconstancies in his story, he later said he deleted the alarm messages from his phone…or maybe he disarmed the alarm when he left the house.<\/p>\n The Hartford Courant<\/a> reported that Dabate, known to have been having an on-again-off-again affair for seven years, had sent a note to his pregnant girlfriend the night before the murder, writing, \u201cI\u2019ll see you tomorrow my little love nugget.\u201d He was reassuring her that he intended to get a divorce. However, Dabate claimed<\/a> to have donated sperm as his wife couldn\u2019t have another child and he planned to \u201cco-parent\u201d the child between the two women.<\/p>\n Police said Dabate had secretly obtained a credit card which he used to pay for \u201cflowers for his girlfriend and more than $1,200 at a Tolland strip club and stays at a nearby Motel 6.\u201d A month before her death, he withdrew $93,000 from an investment account in his wife\u2019s name. A year before her death, he sent his wife a text saying: \u201cI want a divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n There were other tech data factors as well as the police investigation included forensic analysis of the couple\u2019s computers, smartphones, social media postings, home alarm system and Connie\u2019s Fitbit records.<\/p>\n Then there was Facebook, where Dabate posted a few days after his wife\u2019s death about how his family was \u201cdoing our best to move forward, as impossible as it seems.\u201d Five days her murder, he filed a claim to cash in on his wife\u2019s $475,000 life insurance policy.<\/p>\n Dabate, who posted $1 million bail, maintains his innocence.<\/p>\n This is not the first time that data from an IoT device has disapproved an alibi; in a world of sensors<\/a>, expect to see this type of thing happen more and more. For example, Bentonville, Arkansas, police used IoT data from a connected water meter<\/a> in a homicide investigation. The cops also wanted Amazon to provide data from an Echo<\/a> device, hoping recorded \u201csnippets\u201d of conversations would be helpful in the murder investigation.<\/p>\n A person can remove their Fitbit, unplug an Echo to prevent Alexa from hearing, but they can\u2019t remove a medical device which is helping to keep them alive. Ohio cops used pacemaker data as evidence<\/a> to charge a man with arson and insurance fraud. Just as was the case with the Fitbit, the data from the pacemaker was dubbed an \u201cexcellent investigative tool\u201d to provide \u201ckey pieces of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/category\/security\/index.rss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2017 08:54:00 -0700<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh good, another case of exploding devices. This time the culprit was a Fitbit Flex 2, which allegedly caused second-degree burns on a Wisconsin woman\u2019s arm. She was sitting and reading a book when her Fitbit \u201cexploded\u201d on her wrist. \u201cIt was either defective or really mad I was sitting still so long,\u201d she told<\/a> ABC News. \u201cEither way, it burned the heck out of my arm.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n