«Breaking News» Doyouthinkhesaurus? Privacy fears over £90 talking dinosaur toy programmed to 'spy' on children

It's the cute toy tipped to be a Christmas hit, but there are fears ‘Dino’ the dinosaur may be vulnerable to hackers who could steal information about its young owners.

The ‘smart toy’, which is able to ‘learn’, answer questions and read bedtime stories, is among a series of technology gifts that have failed to win approval from the Mozilla Foundation, a not- for-profit organisation that campaigns for better internet accessibility and safety.

The group said it had been unable to determine if Dino – an internet-connected toy made by CogniToys and priced at £89.99 on Amazon – uses sufficient encryption to guard against hackers.

The ‘smart toy’ Dino, above; which is able to ‘learn’, answer questions and read bedtime stories, is among a series of technology gifts that have failed to win approval from the Mozilla Foundation, a campaign group for internet safety

It was also critical of the complexity of its privacy policy which includes an admission in the small print that, when a child plays with Dino, it automatically collects information about a child’s ‘likes and dislikes, interests, and other educational metrics’.

It can also collect a child’s name, date of birth and gender.

Users of the Mozilla website have labelled the toy ‘creepy’ in an online vote.

Mozilla’s concerns stand in contrast to the advertising spiel for the toy, which is aimed at children as young as five.

On its website, CogniToys says: ‘Dinos aren’t “digital assistants” like Siri or Alexa, they are friends who answer questions, tell stories, practice spelling… play games.’

Fewer than half of the 70 gadgets rated on the foundation’s website met its minimum security standards test for Christmas 2018.

Those failing the test include the £379 ‘Bebop 2’, a drone that follows its owner when a button is pressed. 

The Mozilla Foundation, a not- for-profit organisation that campaigns for better internet accessibility and safety, said it had been unable to determine if Dino – an internet-connected toy made by CogniToys and priced at £89.99 on Amazon – uses sufficient encryption to guard against hackers [File photo]

Mozilla claims the toy, manufactured by Parrot, was ‘easily hackable’. Other toys that failed to pass included singing robots, a teddy bear that links to your smartphone and a high-tech musical bracelet.

Elemental Path, the parent company of CogniToys, said Dino ‘does use full encryption on audio going to and coming from the device’.

They said the information held about children was to ‘personalise the experience’ of users and said: ‘We would never share this information with anyone outside of our company, no marketers, no third parties, just our internal teams.’

Parrot did not respond to a request for comment.

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https://hienalouca.com/2018/11/18/doyouthinkhesaurus-privacy-fears-over-90-talking-dinosaur-toy-programmed-to-spy-on-children/
Main photo article It’s the cute toy tipped to be a Christmas hit, but there are fears ‘Dino’ the dinosaur may be vulnerable to hackers who could steal information about its young owners.
The ‘smart toy’, which is able to ‘learn’, answer questions and read bedtime stories, is among a series of technology gift...

It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.

Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.

Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca





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