By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square
A consumer advocacy group’s newest dangerous toys report highlights smart devices that spy on children.
Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund’s 38th annual “Trouble in Toyland” report looks at the smart toys, like microphones, cameras, connectivity, and location trackers.
“Smart toys can be useful, fun or educational, but interacting with some of them can create frightening situations for too many families,” said Abe Scarr, director of Illinois PIRG Education Fund.
PIRG highlights an incident two months ago when a man kidnapped an 11-year-old girl he encountered while playing the popular mobile game Roblox. The child was eventually found safe about 135 miles away from her home.
Earlier this year, Amazon was accused of violating federal children’s privacy laws through its Alexa service by collecting the voices and geolocation data of children under 13 years old and using the voices and data for its own purposes.
Besides smart toys, Illinois PIRG Education Fund looks at several low-tech threats, including water beads, button batteries and recalled and counterfeit toys for sale.
Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky said important advancements have been made over the years with toy safety.
“Fifteen years ago, we passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act which did things like take away lead and dyes from toys that children might chew on,” Schakowsky said.
More here.