Children have a right to security and privacy. However, the internet-connected toys “My Friend Cayla” and “i-Que” infringe the children’s basic consumer, privacy and security rights that are guaranteed by EU law, said the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) on Tuesday 6 December.
BEUC has announced, therefore, that, consumer organisations in Europe and the United States are now filing complaints to relevant national authorities and BEUC is issuing letters to the European Commission, the EU network of national data protection authorities and the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) on “what seems to be obvious breaches of several consumer laws”.
This reaction has come after the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) reviewed the terms and technical features of these two toys. The findings were damning. Spoken data, gathered while the toy is being used, can be shared with third parties and used for targeted advertising. Everything the child says to the toy is transferred to the US-based company Nuance Communications, which specialises in speech recognition technologies. More worrying still: the NCC discovered that it is possible to speak to a child through the toys using a Bluetooth connection at distances of up to 20 metres.
“Children are especially vulnerable, and are entitled to products and services that safeguard their rights to security and privacy. As long as manufacturers are not willing to take these issues seriously it is clear that this type of connected products is not suitable for children” said BEUC Director General Monique Goyens.
“We need to ensure that these new connected toys don not lead to cynical exploitation of children or place them at a more serious risk”, underlines Stephen Russell, Secretary General at ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)