Smart Bears don't talk to strangers: analysing privacy concerns and technical solutions in smart toys for children

Abstract

The “Smart Bear” is a hypothetical connected-smart toy for children. While the functionalities it presents are appealing to both children and their parents, the privacy concerns that are raised should be taken into serious consideration. A big amount of personal data of the child (and probably of other uninformed minors and adults in physical vicinity) are processed and analysed, an accurate profile of the child is created and direct marketing practices would most probably take place. The toy could suddenly turn into a surveillance device, while malicious third parties might hack the device and proceed to activities that would even threaten the child's physical and/or mental health. Data minimisation and privacy enhancing technologies are suggested, that would, if not completely alleviate, at least diminish the risks presented. Cybersecurity measures constitute a necessary condition for the alleviation of privacy concerns. This paper concludes that while a zero privacy risk “Smart Bear” is currently not possible, a privacy-considerate “Smart Bear” is not that hard to achieve.