Interactive 'Smart' Toys Can Collect Kids’ Personal Data & Location

A growing number of interactive toys, so-called ‘Smart’ robots, dolls, games, and animals (some marketed for children as young as three) now advertise that they use artificial intelligence (AI).

In October, 2023, an 11-year-old girl was kidnapped by a man she encountered while playing an interactive game online. Fortunately, she was found safe a short time later, about 135 miles away from her home. The game, Roblox, is one of the most popular mobile games this year.

This past spring, the FTC accused Amazon of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) through its Alexa service by keeping the voice recordings of children indefinitely and failing to delete childrens’ transcripts, even when a parent requested they be deleted. Amazon also gathered geolocation data and used childrens’ transcripts for its own purposes. (source)

These devices pose as ‘toys’ but huge privacy and security issues come into play when toys are equipped with microphones, cameras, or sensors that connect to the internet or pair with other Bluetooth devices.

As a grandparent, for our family, this is a firm NO!

Smart toys “gather a lot more data on children than parents realize,” said data privacy expert R.J. Cross, director of the Don’t Sell My Data Campaign at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. (See the video below).

“Smart toys collect significant data about the children playing with them, including their location. Conversational toys that use AI to interact with the child can solicit personal information—such as name, age, school, or birthday—and transmit that data to the toy maker. A doll, robot, or action figure connected to the internet can receive software updates, but it also may send pictures, audio, or other personal data to the manufacturer (often a Chinese-based company)—which can be shared with other companies—and used to market to that child.” (source)

“Toys should just be toys. Kids view their toys as friends. Kids don’t think about the fact that there’s a company on the other end that’s doing the listening and the talking,” Cross warns.

Interactive Hack Attacks

A connected toy with a camera or microphone is vulnerable to hackers who can use it to eavesdrop on kids and their families.

In 2015, researchers demonstrated that a conversational doll, My Friend Cayla, had an unsecured Bluetooth connection that can be hacked and change the doll’s responses. Someone with a Bluetooth-enabled phone could also connect to the doll and talk to the child.

While My Friend Cayla is no longer available on Amazon, there are hundreds of interactive dolls, stuffed animals and toys that work the same way – even an interactive dollhouse.

4 minutes.

Musical books like these aren’t in that category.

Instead Of Fun, Interactive ‘Toys’ Create Frightening Situations w/o Parent’s Knowledge

“It’s chilling to learn what some of these interactive toys can do,” said Teresa Murray, director of the consumer watchdog division at U.S. PIRG Education Fund. “Smart toys can be useful, fun or educational, but interacting with some of them can create frightening situations for too many families.”

This year’s report highlights the Amazmic Kids Karaoke Microphone, a toy that uses “the latest Bluetooth 5.0 technology to provide a stable connection (up to 33 feet),” according to the listing on Amazon.

Directions say the microphone requires a password to pair with other Bluetooth devices—it suggests the password ‘0000’. Weak! PIRG researchers bought the toy and found that it paired, in about two seconds, with nearby smartphones without entering a password. It happened three times on three different phones. Murray said they couldn’t find an easy way to make the toy “undiscoverable,” so strangers couldn’t “drop in on your child, and send undesirable audio messages or play inappropriate music.” (source)

“And, if there’s a microphone in a stuffed animal, is there a ‘wake word’? If so, that means the microphone is always on and listening for the wake word.”

In-App purchases possible without parental permission

These ‘toys’ have companion apps that must be downloaded to enable interactive features, and most allow the child to make unsupervised purchases. This is common with tablet games where a lead character promotes the purchase of in-app extras.

Tips for parents

With connected toys, the danger to your child’s privacy and safety may be hidden in a lengthy privacy policy that most parents don’t read.

Make sure you understand the technology that enables the device to interact with your precious child. Are there microphones, cameras, or sensors? Does the toy allow the child to make purchases without your permission? Chat functions are an obvious privacy and security risk. The threats that come with these toys will increase with the incredible growth of AI.

In some cases, “giving consent” may be as simple as turning on the toy.

Lastly, you and your family are worth the moment it takes to change your understanding of WiFi, aka wireless microwave radiation: 9 Hard-To-Hear Facts About Wireless & Your Child’s Brain

Please educate yourself and your child and do not invite this hidden danger into your home!

Toys Worth Owning: Imagination-Sparking, Hands-On, Open-Ended Play

Does Your Child Have Plenty Of Time to Play? Just. Play?

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” ~1 John 4:1

“But test everything; hold fast what is good.” ~1 Thessalonians 5:21

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