Dreaming of an insecure Christmas
What do you want for Christmas? How about a coffee maker that can eavesdrop on your conversations, or a fitness tracker that can analyze the tone of your voice?
The fourth-annual Privacy Not Included holiday shopping guide from Mozilla aims to arm shoppers with the information they need to choose gifts that protect the privacy and security of their friends and family while spurring the tech industry to do more to safeguard consumers.
Researchers reviewed 136 popular connected gifts available for purchase in the US across seven categories. Toys and Games; Smart Home; Entertainment; Wearables; Health and Exercise; Pets; and Home Office. They looked at privacy policies, product and app features, and quizzed companies in order to answer questions like, "Can this product’s camera, microphone, or GPS snoop on me? What data does the device collect and where does it go? What is the company’s known track record for protecting users' data?"
The guide includes a 'Best Of' category, which singles out products that get privacy and security right, while a 'Privacy Not Included' warning icon alerts consumers when a product has especially problematic privacy practices. It also identifies which products meet Mozilla's Minimum Security Standards, such as using encryption and requiring users to change the default password if a password is needed. Also for the first time Mozilla notes which products use artificial intelligence to make decisions about consumers.
"Holiday gifts are getting 'smarter' each year: from watches that collect more and more health data, to drones with GPS, to home security cameras connected to the cloud," says Ashley Boyd, Mozilla's vice president of advocacy. "Unfortunately, these gifts are often getting creepier, too. Poor security standards and privacy practices can mean that your connected gift isn’t bringing joy, but rather prying eyes and security vulnerabilities."
The 22 Best Of products include, Apple TV 4K and Apple Watch 6, Eufy Video Doorbell and iRobot Roomba i Series. However, 37 products get the Privacy Not Included mark of shame, these include, the Amazon Halo, Dyson Pure Cool, Facebook Portal, Hamilton Beach Smart Coffee Maker, and Livescribe Smartpens.
You can find a full listing of all the products -- good and bad -- on the Mozilla site.
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