Cayla and i-Que are two extremely popular "smart" games made by Genesis Toys based in Los Angeles. As can be seen, these games (and many others we do not know) do not guarantee security and privacy rights for their primary consumers (children) as researchers have discovered.
Cayla and i-Que games come with "companion" applications, and the latest services from Nuance Communications, a Massachusetts-based company that specializes in voice and speech recognition services for various industries. This allows the toys to interpret speeches and converse with the children.
These games are sold in the US, Scandinavian countries, in some European countries, Australia and the Middle East.
According to the findings of researchers from Scandinavian Bouvet Technology Consultants, who had been commissioned to test the games on behalf of the Norwegian Consumer Council, there are too many bugs in the two interactive games that can be connected to the Internet. Among these are the lack of security, illegal terms of use, exploitation of children's secrets, perhaps asking for sensitive information, serving hidden children, and more.
The short video below is published by the Council and shows some of these problems.
The Norwegian Consumer Council believes that the manufacturer of these toys does not adequately protect the safety and privacy of users and urged the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, the Consumer Ombudsman and the Norwegian Civil Protection Directorate to investigate the whether these two products fall under the prohibition of laws and European regulations (Personal Data Act, Marketing Control Act, and product safety regulations).
At the same time, in the US, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming that the two Cayla and i-Que games, pet applications as their makers violate federal US privacy laws.
Watch the video
