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Amid concerns of spying, Germany bans kids smartwatches

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After having already banned a smart doll earlier this year, Germany’s Federal Network Agency has also ruled smartwatches aimed at minors as illegal, citing security and privacy concerns.
Earlier this year, Germany’s telecommunications watchdog, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), found that a smart toy called “My Friend Cayla” breached the country’s strict privacy laws as it amounted to being a “concealed transmitting device”. The agency went as far as recommending that parents destroy the dolls given its concerns over security and privacy.
Now, the national regulator has turned its attention to smartwatches for children aged between five and 12, having described them more or less as spying devices and implementing a blanket ban on such devices aimed at youngsters.
In a statement to the BBC, Federal Network Agency president, John Homann, said:
In addition to being used for remote eavesdropping, some units that also included GPS tracking capabilities contained rather glaring shortcomings such as failing to adequately encrypt transmitted and stored information. This effectively meant that the technologies that were supposed to help keep children safe could potentially be leveraged by strangers to track them.
Security expert Ken Munro from Pen Test Partners welcomed the move by the German regulator, saying that:
Furthermore, in line with its earlier response to “My Friend Cayla”, the Federal Network Agency is encouraging parents to destroy such smartwatches used by their children and encouraging schools to be vigilant when it comes to kids’ watches.
Source: BBC News via TechCrunch| Image via Shutterstock

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