According to a new report, Amazon gadgets targeted at children use their data to offer them more products.
Parents are being warned over privacy issues in youngsters’ devices such as the Echo Dot smart speaker and Fire tablet.
Mozilla, a web browser, found that tech giants are able not only to gather contact details, but personal information like photos, videos and location.
According to its annual Privacy Not Included Report, this data is used, among others, for personalised recommendations.
Parents are being warned over privacy issues in youngsters’ devices such as the Echo Dot smart speaker and Fire tablet (file picture)
Lead researcher Jen Caltrider said: ‘Are they learning what your kids like so they can try and sell them, or you, more stuff or get them using their product more often?
‘Unfortunately, the answer to that question seems likely to be, yes. Kids deserve privacy too.’
Only two of eight Amazon products aimed at children in the study – the Kindle and Echo Glow – were found to not jeopardise privacy.
Those that did included the £59.99 Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition smart speaker, and two versions of the Amazon Fire HD Kids tablet, for those aged three to seven and six to 12, priced at £139.99 and £199 respectively. They are not available yet in the UK.
According to the report, each toy collects information such as name, birth date, and contact details. Data on location can also be collected, like photos and video.
However, it pointed out that Amazon will not show third-party advertisements to users based their interests if they’re under 13. The three devices all use the virtual assistant Alexa which records and saves questions.
The report said parents were able to delete voice recordings through changing privacy settings, but Amazon can keep data on the response to the child’s request, which could help create a user profile.
Amazon’s annual Privacy Not Included report claims this data is used to provide, among other things, personalised recommendations (stock picture)
It said: ‘Amazon could get to know your kid’s personal information pretty well and try to sell them stuff starting at a young age.’ Mozilla said it spent on average 6.5 hours researching products – but it took ‘much longer’ for firms such as Amazon and Facebook.
Miss Caltrider said: ‘Amazon is the most confusing company to research of all, because they are large and have many entities and areas.’
An Amazon spokesman said: ‘We are dedicated to providing customers with transparency and control, making privacy controls incredibly easy to use and understand, and keeping customer information secure.’