«Breaking News» Parents are warned to avoid buying 'smart toys' amid fears they could be used to spy on children

Parents have been warned to avoid to buying 'smart toys' for Christmas over fears they could be used by hackers to spy on children and share data.

Gifts and toys that connect to the internet or sync to a smartphone are part of a £4.8million market.

But toys including robots, drones, dolls, games consoles and watches have been found to spy on children, the Times revealed.  

The Furby Connect was found to track the user's location and the app can connect to your phone's camera

My Friend Cayla doll (left), which is micro-phone enabled, was found to linked to an unsecured blue tooth connection in 2016, allowing strangers to talk to children. Sphero BB-8 Robot (right) tracks location and shares data

Out of 25 toys, it was found that 28 per cent of cases the makers were not clear about whether the toys were encrypted, an investigation by The Times revealed.

It was also found that 60 per cent shared data with third parties and information about safety was not readily available for 48 per cent. 

Two of the toys studied were found to have been hacked by security researchers and had been used to spy on children. 

One company's 3,683 word privacy policy stated that three-year-old children were required to read the document and ask their parents permission before sharing data, The Times revealed.

DJI Spark Selfie drone (left) allows hackers to access data stored in the cloud's servers, including photos and videos from flights. The Parker teddy bear (right) requires users to download an app the requests user's camera

Concerns about he toys have been mounting ever since a My Friend Cayla doll, which is micro-phone enabled, was found to be linked to an unsecured blue tooth connection, allowing strangers to talk to children.  

And a Furby Connect was found to track the user's location and the app can connect to your phone's camera.   

A Parker teddy bear also required users to download an app that requests permission to access a camera. The manufacturer, Seedlings, collects data via Facebook. 

Manufacturers say that when data is shard with third parties, such as advertising companies, it is anonymised.

However experts reveal that data can be de-anonymised and difficult to trace after it has been shared.

Anne Longfield, the children's commissioner for England told The Times: 'Children and parent should be able to make informed choices about how children's data is used by toy companies, and they cannot do that if manufacturers are not being transparent.'

V-tech InnoTab Max tablet, aimed at children aged three to nine, shares users data with a number of thirds parties 

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/22/parents-are-warned-to-avoid-buying-smart-toys-amid-fears-they-could-be-used-to-spy-on-children/
Main photo article Parents have been warned to avoid to buying ‘smart toys’ for Christmas over fears they could be used by hackers to spy on children and share data.
Gifts and toys that connect to the internet or sync to a smartphone are part of a £4.8million market.
But toys including robots, drones, ...

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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