The Federal Network Agency of Germany has issued a blanket ban on smartwatches for children, over concerns with the devices’ security and GPS tracking features.
The Xplora GPS smartwatch range is designed specifically for children.
The agency has even gone as far as to classify the product category as an illegal spying device, and has advised any parents who have purchased a smartwatch for their child to destroy it. Speaking to the BBC, Ken Munro, a security expert at Pen Test Partners, said:
“Poorly secured smart devices often allow for privacy invasion. That is really concerning when it comes to kids’ GPS tracking watches—the very watches that are supposed to help keep them safe.
There is a shocking lack of regulation of the ‘internet of things’, which allows lax manufacturers to sell us dangerously insecure smart products. Using privacy regulation to ban such devices is a game-changer, stopping these manufacturers playing fast and loose with our kids’ security”.
