Perceived Innovativeness and Privacy Risk of Smart Toys in Brazil and Argentina

A smart toy, such as Hello Barbie, is a device consisting of a physical toy component that connects to a computing system with online services through networking to enhance the functionality of a traditional toy. Whilst these are new educational and entertaining values of smart toys, experts in western countries such as U.S. and Germany have warned consumers of the data security and privacy issues of these toys. In this preliminary research study, we particularly studied Brazilian and Argentinian consumers’ perceived innovativeness, risks and benefits of smart toys and their purchase intention toward such toys. Results indicate that Brazilian consumers have better perception and evaluation of the toy and thus higher purchase intention than Argentinian consumers do. Such difference may be explained by the cultural differences be-tween the two countries, such as relatively low vs. high uncertainty avoidance

Designing connected play: Perspectives from combining industry and academic know-how. In: Chaudron S., Di Gioia R., Gemo M., Holloway D., Marsh J., Mascheroni G., Peter J., Yamada-Rice D. Kaleidoscope on the Internet of Toys - Safety, security, privacy and societal insights, EUR 28397 EN, doi:10.2788/05383

Academics, designers and producers tend to consider the evolving Internet of Toys (IoToys) from within their individual disciplines. On the one hand, academics bring a long history of researching and theorizing play and communication practices to the task of considering young children’s use of connected toys. On the other hand, designers and producers of connected toys have detailed understanding of the possibilities and affordances of technology, as well as the technical mechanics involved in toy production. In other words, they know what it is possible to make, and what it is not possible to make. Industry also has an eye on trends in digital toy production and content, and how these are likely to evolve. This is because the digital play industry track data on technology usage and media consumption, and so on. These are things that academics are often a step behind in understanding because of a tendency to consider children’s use of an end product. However, my work across academia and the commercial toy and digital content industry has taught me that the amount of expertise companies have of child development and theories around play and communication practices is extremely varied and start-up companies in particular have little resource to conduct in-house research. This means that some connected toys are not as well made for young users as they could be. However, these crossovers have also taught me that sometimes academics call for changes to designs that are not easily possible or commercially viable. Therefore, regular collaboration between academia and industry would aid production of the best possible connected toys and content for young children

SOK:young children’s cybersecurity knowledge, skills & practice: a systematic literature review

The rise in children’s use of digital technology highlights the need for them to learn to act securely online. Cybersecurity skills require mature cognitive abilities which children only acquire after they start using technology. As such, this paper explores the guidance and current curriculum expectations on cybersecurity aspects in Scotland. Additionally, a systematic review was undertaken of the literature pertaining to cybersecurity education for children on a wider scale including papers from around the world, with 27 peer reviewed papers included in the final review. We discovered that most research focused on assessing children’s knowledge or investigating the efficacy of interventions to improve cybersecurity knowledge and practice. Very few investigated the skills required to carry out the expected cybersecurity actions. For example, high levels of literacy, mature short- and long-term memory, attention, and established meta cognition are all pre-requisites to be able to carry out cybersecurity activities. Our main finding is that empirical research is required to explore the ages at which children have developed essential cognitive abilities and thereby the potential to master cybersecurity skills

Toy story or children story?: Putting children and their rights at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution

Policymakers need to start considering the impact smart connected toys (SCTs) have on children. Equipped with sensors, data processing capacities, and connectivity, SCTs targeting children increasingly penetrate pervasively personal environ- ments. The network of SCTs forms the Internet of Toys (IoToys) and often increases children's engagement and playtime experience. Unfortunately, this young part of the population and, most of the time, their parents are often unaware of SCTs’ far-reaching capacities and limitations. The capabilities and constraints of SCTs create severe side effects at the technical, individual, and societal level. These side effects are often unforeseeable and unexpected. They arise from the technology's use and the interconnected nature of the IoToys, without necessarily involving malevolence from their creators. Although existing regulations and new ethical guidelines for artificial intelligence provide remedies to address some of the side effects, policymakers did not develop these redress mechanisms having children and SCTs in mind. This article provides an analysis of the arising side effects of SCTs and contrasts them with current regulatory redress mechanisms. We thereby highlight misfits and needs for further policymaking efforts.Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a pluralist worl

Privacy perception and information technology utilization of high school students

Mobile technologies are commonly used and are important by high school students, since teens ages 14 to 17 usethese open platforms to share information, communication and construction of their desired cyber identity.Accompanying technology for related data privacy within implementing educational applications is yet to bedeveloped. This research was designed to investigate the perceptions of data privacy and the protection of per-sonal data of high school students who are surrounded by the Internet, social media and technology. Theperception of high school students' personal data privacy survey was developed and conducted with 1065 highschool students (9th grades). The study presentsfive main themes: (1) ownership and utilization of differenttechnologies and password sharing, (2) Internet utilization and perception of privacy, (3) social media utilizationand perception of personal privacy on social media, (4) knowledge level and perception of personal data con-servation, (5) Information technology utilization. High school students have a personal data privacy algorithm butpersons or institutions outside this algorithm are perceived as a threat to their personal data and are rejected. Thisresearch suggests developing practices and techniques to overcome students' concerns about privacy risks thatresult from the collection and sharing personal data

Security Analysis and Evaluation of Smart Toys

During the last years, interconnectivity and merging the physical and digital technological dimensions have become a topic attracting the interest of the modern world. Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly evolving as it manages to transform physical devices into communicating agents which can consecutively create complete interconnected systems. A sub-category of the IoT technology is smart toys, which are devices with networking capabilities, created for and used in play. Smart toys’ targeting group is usually children and they attempt to provide a higher level of entertainment and education by offering an enhanced and more interactive experience. Due to the nature and technical limitations of IoT devices, security experts have expressed concerns over the effectiveness and security level of smart devices. The importance of securing IoT devices has an increased weight when it pertains to smart toys, since sensitive information of children and teenagers can potentially be compromised. Furthermore, various security analyses on smart toys have discovered a worryingly high number of important security flaws. The master thesis focuses on the topic of smart toys’ security by first presenting and analyzing the necessary literature background. Furthermore, it presents a case study where a smart toy is selected and analyzed statically and dynamically utilizing a Raspberry Pi. The aim of this thesis is to examine and apply methods of analysis used in the relevant literature, in order to identify security flaws in the examined smart toy. The smart toy is a fitness band whose target consumers involve children and teenagers. The fitness band is communicating through Bluetooth with a mobile device and is accompanied by a mobile application. The mobile application has been installed and tested on an Android device. Finally, the analyses as well as their emerged results are presented and described in detail. Several security risks have been identified indicating that developers must increase their efforts in ensuring the optimal level of security in smart toys. Furthermore, several solutions that could minimize security risks and are related to our findings are suggested, along with potentially interesting topics for future work and further research

Our digital children

The power relationship between adults and children in the West is shifting. Factors of age and life experience are becoming counterbalanced by children’s affinity for burgeoning developments in digital technology, where skills developed in online gaming and social media provide a strong foundation for knowledge economy occupations. The implications for parenting, schooling and society are immense. This paper summarises the current debate on issues around children’s use of digital devices and social media. It argues that for many parents a lack of familiarity and understanding creates anxieties and impairs them from helping their children realise the opportunities for social, moral and economic development afforded by the new technologies. Schools have a leading role to play but are hampered by teachers’ technical skills and confidence to innovate. The paper concludes with recommendations for a proactive approach to yield benefits for both children and adults

Our digital children

The power relationship between adults and children in the West is shifting. Factors of age and life experience are becoming counterbalanced by children’s affinity for burgeoning developments in digital technology, where skills developed in online gaming and social media provide a strong foundation for knowledge economy occupations. The implications for parenting, schooling and society are immense. This paper summarises the current debate on issues around children’s use of digital devices and social media. It argues that for many parents a lack of familiarity and understanding creates anxieties and impairs them from helping their children realise the opportunities for social, moral and economic development afforded by the new technologies. Schools have a leading role to play but are hampered by teachers’ technical skills and confidence to innovate. The paper concludes with recommendations for a proactive approach to yield benefits for both children and adults

Discursive constructions of the internet of toys

The Internet of Toys (IoToys) refers to the small subset of the Internet of Things often marketed to children and their caregivers as smart toys. These toys include many of the affordances of screen-based, networked technologies, packaged as children’s everyday playthings. Thus, Hello Barbie uses voice recognition and cloud-based computing combined with artificial intelligence procedures to craft meaningful responses to children’s statements and engage them in quasi-naturalistic conversation. Other IoToys also include image recognition and geo-locational data collection. Such toys can also be constructed in different ways that represent the perspectives of the speaker and circumstances of use. Thus Germany’s Federal Network Agency announced in February that it classified the My Friend Cayla doll (a competitor to Barbie) as an ‘illegal espionage apparatus’ because ‘under German law it is illegal to manufacture, sell or possess surveillance devices disguised as another object’. The IoToys facilitates both commercial relations and income streams for the manufacturers and/or associated organisations, such as marketing agencies, software providers and voice analytics services. These streams of income can include advertising to children through the connected toy, the collection, analysis and monetisation of children’s data and the sale of the toy itself. Buying the toy also involves long-term contractual agreements that transfer legal responsibility for the collection, analysis and distribution of children’s data onto their parents. This effectively gives commercial entities the authority to continue and conceivably expand upon data-collecting and data-sharing procedures. This article analyses the discursive construction of the future IoToys using textual analysis of media resources that provide stakeholder perspectives on this emerging field. It argues that, given their status as an emerging category of human–computer interaction devices, objects that can be classified as part of the IoToys currently occupy a controversial and contested media industries space, raising many regulatory and policy questions that children themselves are not equipped to consider or take into account

Developmentally appropriate guidelines for technology augmented pre-schooler toys

Kim To Tse investigated the concerns in creating developmentally appropriate technology augmented pre-schooler toys. He found that parents and child development specialists care for pre-schoolers from different angles. His research outcomes advocate and support the vision of healthy implementation of technology in early childhood while sustaining the toy industry