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EU AND US consumer watchdogs have confirmed they are filing complaints against a clutch of smart toys that can ‘spy’ on children and their homes, for allegedly breaching privacy and data protection laws.
The complaints target smart toys My Friend Cayla, i-QUE Intelligent Robot and Hello Barbie, according to the European Consumer Organisation BEUC and US groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).
Complaints are being filed with French and other European authorities as well as the US Federal Trade Commission.
Internet-connected Cayla and i-QUE, manufactured by Los Angeles-based Genesis Toys, hook up with a user via a phone or tablet while Hello Barbie links to the internet through wi-fi, said the consultancy Bouvet on behalf of the Norwegian Consumer Council.
Hello Barbie is not sold in Europe.
“By purpose and design, these toys record and collect the private conversations of young children without any limitations on collection, use, or disclosure of this personal information,” EPIC and other US watchdogs said in their complaint, which they say “concerns toys that spy”.
“The toys subject young children to ongoing surveillance and are deployed in homes across the United States without any meaningful data protection standards,” they said.
“They pose an imminent and immediate threat to the safety and security of children in the United States,” they added.
Security issues
BEUC, citing the study commissioned by the Norwegian Consumer Council, expressed security concerns.
“With simple steps, anyone can take control of the toys through a mobile phone. This makes it possible to talk and listen through the toy without having physical access to the toy,” it added.
It alleged the terms breach the EU Unfair Contract Terms Directive and the EU Data Protection Directive and possibly the Toy Safety Directive.
“Anything the child tells the doll is transferred to the US-based company Nuance Communications, who specialises in speech recognition technologies,” it said.
“The company reserves the right to share this information with other third parties, and to use speech data for a wide variety of purposes,” it said.
“The toys are embedded with pre-programmed phrases, where they endorse different commercial products,” BEUC said.
EPIC and the other US groups like The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood urged the trade commission to investigate the collection, use and disclosure of the data.
They called for the body to halt Genesis’ alleged failure to give enough notice of its information practices and stop its retention and use of children’s personal information.
They also asked the commission to halt Genesis’ failure to use “reasonable security measures” for bluetooth connections for Cayla and i-Que.
They urged the body to investigate and prevent US-based Nuance from using children’s speech data to improve products and services sold to military, government and law enforcement agencies.
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Did you know that if you stand on the Great Wall of China you can actually see the moon.
Not if he’s in Korea.
Brilliant …. love this sort of story. Will I be able to see it in Newbridge? If so I’ll be out with my jacket and a scarf (bloody well cold up here compared to Cork) and a cuppa to have a look
Wondering the same thing myself Eileen!
Download the iss app to your phone Eileen -I am also in newbridge and its a brilliant app -alarm goes off to let you know when its due to pass -I’ll be out tonight looking up at it -crutches and all
Naas is on the line
The moon being upside down is surely a bigger story!
Vews (and photos) through a telesope are upside down. Same with view through one’s eyes but the brain turns them up “the right way”. Someone just forgot to flip the photo.
There was an experiment years ago where people were given spectacles which showed everything upsidedown. It took a couple of days but eventually their brain adjusted so they could see normally! They had a few more unpleasant days when they stopped using the glasses.
Clear sky over Dublin tonight, is the moving station visable with the human eye?
It’s easily visible with the human eye. To ne honest it looks like a very large shooting star in my opinion. I have used a basic pair of binoculars and made out good detail.
It is extremely bright in the night sky, moving at a fairly fast pace. You can’t miss it.
That is no moon!
I wll tell the kids it’s the Emporers Shuttle arriving :-)
Lol, he’s just here for a look around… We’ll send him packing, probably would like it much like the airwaves adds.
Oh so that’s the moon! Thanks Journal!
Pass the beer nuts please
That’s my thursday evening sorted so :)
Grand, my boss lives in the moon. I will tell her to have her coins ready so she doesn’t miss this one…
I’m delighted that the picture above is captioned.
Just saw it passing by. That was very cool! Thanks for the tip off. It was moving a lot faster and much brighter than I thought!
bet ya €5 the clouds come out to watch as well always the same frigging irish weather
I’m so excited!
Will a person not on the line see the station at all ? I remember when the shuttle flew over after launch and most people could see it. What’s different here ?
Thanks Ciara
Clouds in Dublin as per usual. Caught a glimpse but nowhere near the moon.
Stupid cloud about to obscure the moon at 20.48 grrrrr
Got some pics and a video so a very happy camper here.
Cool. Anyone interested space x are the new movers in space exploration and they have some cool ideas if you like these type of things.
Just spent past hour and a bit looking to the sky’s on lovely clear night and didn’t see a thing:( glad didn’t spend good money on that ha
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