Smart watches are one of the objects most desired by children for next Christmas, but the German Federal Internet Agency believes that they are not entirely safe for children. This month has banned the sale of smartwatches for children between 5 and 12 years old that incorporate a function that allows "espionage".
These devices usually incorporate GPS to be able to locate the child in case of loss in crowded places. It also allows you to record phone numbers in your memory to make calls, and some allow recording the ambient sound so that parents can control the environment where the child is.
In the agency's statement, its president Jochen Homann says:
"We believe that parents use them to spy on their children, through an application and the microphone they include. Our research on these products found, for example, that parents were using them to listen to teachers while teaching their children. "
Almost all smartwatches include a SIM card on which a restricted number of phone numbers are recorded, and the calls they make can be controlled by parents through an app.
They also have a microphone that can be accessed remotely by activating it through the application, with which you can record conversations in secret, a controversial use especially in terms of privacy not only of the child, but also of third parties that could be recorded without knowing it.
"This type of function, recording conversations without the consent of all the people involved, is prohibited in Germany," the statement said.
They have been ordered to be destroyed All smartwatches with these characteristics, both sellers and users who have them at home, who must also demonstrate that the watch has been disabled and in return will receive a certificate of destruction. It has also been indicated that all product offers on the Internet be withdrawn.
Security or privacy violation?
There are parents who see in the smartwatches a security solution for your children, as a previous step to the purchase of the mobile. It is an interesting use for children who go to school alone, for example, and whose parents can control their location through an app, knowing that they can be called at any time they need it.
Even parents can access the microphone of the device to listen to the ambient sound it records, in case there is any danger. But precisely this functionality is the reason for the controversy. What do you think, do you see it as a violation of your privacy?
Via | The country
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