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 the Scandinavian technology consulting firm Bouvet, which was commissioned to try out the games on behalf of the Norwegian Consumer Council, there are too many bugs in the two interactive games that can be linked to Internet. These include lack of security, illegal terms of use, exploitation of children's secrets, possibly asking for sensitive information, serving children hidden ads, 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 games does not adequately protect the safety and privacy of users, and has urged the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, the Consumer Ombudsman, and the Norwegian Civil Protection Directorate to investigate the whether these two products fall within the ban by European laws and regulations (Personal Data Act, Marketing Control Act, and product safety regulations).
At the same time, in the USA, the Electronic Privacy Center (Electronic Privacy Information Center or EPIC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that the two Cayla and i-Que games, the pet apps, as well as their manufacturers, violate U.S. federal privacy laws.
Watch the video
