H Cayla και η i-Que, είναι δύο εξαιρετικά δημοφιλή «έξυπνα» παιχνίδια που κατασκευάζονται από την Genesis Toys που έχει βάση το Los Angeles. Όπως φαίνεται τα συγκεκριμένα παιχνίδια (και πόσα άλλα που δεν γνωρίζουμε), δεν διασφαλίζουν τα διακαιώματα για better safety και προστασία της ιδιωτικής ζωής των βασικών καταναλωτών τους (των παιδιών) όπως ανακάλυψαν ερευνητές.
Cayla and i-Que toys come with applications "partners", and the latest services from Nuance Communications, a Massachusetts-based company specializing in voice and speech recognition services for various industries. This allows toys to interpret speeches and converse with 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 technology consultancy Bouvet, which was 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 them the 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 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 USA, the Center for Electronic Information Protection (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
