Last Updated on December 23, 2019 by Danielle
The FBI has issued a warning to parents when choosing to purchase smart connected toys.
Recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI has advised parents to comprehensively research smart connected toys before making your purchase. More specifically, they should be extra cautious when one of these Internet-enabled toys has such features as cloud connectivity and voice recognition. The warning comes in the wake of privacy concerns with these connected toys – most recently, My Friend Cayla and CloudPets have made headlines.
Rather than blindly going into a toy store and making a purchase based on how it looks or feels, parents should take the time to investigate whether such features exist and whether there are any known issues with the toy. Nowadays to protect our children’s privacy we have to take all necessary precautions by taking a proactive stance rather than simply relying solely on toy manufacturers. Case in point: My Friend Cayla and CloudPets have been called into question recently and the former was banned altogether in Germany. So, clearly, sometimes these kinds of toys can slip through the cracks, especially when toy manufacturers sometimes want to rush their product to market for a major season like the holidays. They can’t always be trusted to serve our best interests 100% of the time so it thereby becomes our responsibility. At the end of the day it’s all about your child’s safety and protection so we owe it to our children to make an informed decision for them.
Other features to look for include built-in sensors, microphones, cameras, data storage, and other recording capabilities. Whenever data is being stored about our children, there is always cause for concern because a hacker could potentially be privy to that information. When the FBI puts smart toys and the issue of privacy and security front and center – it should also intrinsically heighten our state of awareness and promote real action. The safety and privacy of our children should not be taken lightly. As always you can count on ToyBuzz to keep you informed about all the latest news on unsafe toys, product recalls, and guide you in identifying any smart toys with known security and/or privacy issues.
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