Spacetalk Adventurer

Warning: *Privacy Not Included with this product

Wearables Fitness Trackers for Kids Interactive Toys Fitness Trackers

Spacetalk Adventurer

Spacetalk, Inc.
Wi-Fi Bluetooth

Review date: Nov. 9, 2022

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Mozilla researched 8 hours
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Mozilla says

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People voted: Very creepy

Wrist phones used to be the cool gadgets spies used to do spy stuff. Now they are the gadget parents use to do parent stuff. So, maybe not much has changed from the days of Maxwell Smart (ask your grandparents). This smartwatch for kids age 5 - 12 would have made the spies of the 1970s proud. It's go built-in GPS tracking, phone calling, texting, camera (but no video calling as some smart watches for kids have), fitness tracking, and emergency SOS alerts. Parents can use the app to set up safe zones where kids can go and safe contact lists of people they can call or receive calls from. Yay for being able to keep close tabs on your kids. Boo for teaching kids that this sort of all day, everywhere surveillance is a normal, good thing. Maybe we should rethink that lesson a bit? But how does the Spacetalk Adventurer do at protecting you and your kids' privacy? Well, they aren't the worst we've seen. They could be better though.

What could happen if something goes wrong?

This smartwatch designed for kids 5 - 12, along with the Spacetalk app, can collect a good deal of data on users (parents/guardians as well as kids). Spacetalk says they can collect everything from name, date of birth, gender, online identifiers, phone number, location, and (optionally) call recordings and pictures. This is a lot of personal information collected on you and, potentially, your child.

How does Spacetalk say they can use this information? Well, nowhere in their privacy policy do they say they don’t sell their users data, which is something we like to see clearly stated. However, they do say in this press release from December, 2021 that they don’t sell user data. We hope that’s true. It would be nice if they would state that clearly in their privacy policy though, as that’s a more formal policy than a press release. They also say they do use some of that data for marketing and personalization purposes and that they share some tracking data with third parties for advertising purposes. This isn’t great (although, it’s also not uncommon).

And Spacetalk does state in their privacy policy that they can collect personal information from third parties such as advertising networks and social media platforms and use it for purposes such as providing the service as well as potentially marketing and customization. They also say they can use your personal information for the very vague reason, “any other purpose made known in this Privacy Policy or other policy.” Privacy researchers kinda hate such vaguely worded statements in privacy policies that seem to be written by lawyers who like to give as much wiggle room as possible to use your data.

All in all, Spacetalk doesn’t have the worst privacy policy we’ve ever read. But it sure isn’t the best either. It doesn’t seem to grant everyone the same rights to access and delete their data, regardless of where they live. It does clearly state they don’t sell you personal information. And it has some vaguely worded wiggle room clauses that we never like to see.

What’s the worst that could happen with this location tracking, camera and microphone carrying, step monitoring, messaging, cellular connected device designed to be strapped to your child’s wrist. Well, lots of things come to mind. Here’s hoping all that location data this product and app can collect on you and your child is well protected and never misused. We get why you want to know where your kid is 24/7 -- that gives you peace of mind. But having someone else you don’t want to know where you and/or your kid is 24/7 is creepy as heck. Please do keep an eye on this, as that location data could be harmful in the wrong hands.

One final consideration. We think there is a good question to be raised about teaching young children that the level of digital surveillance this smartwatch provides is OK. Maybe we should track kids a little bit less, and teach them constant surveillance isn’t exactly a good thing?

Tips to protect yourself

  • Parents, keep a sharp eye on parent controls and permissions.
  • Do not sign up with third-party accounts. Better just log in with email and strong password.
  • Chose a strong password! You may use a password control tool like 1Password, KeePass etc
  • Use your device privacy controls to limit access to your personal information via app (do not give access to your camera, microphone, images, location unless neccessary)
  • Keep your app regularly updated
  • Limit ad tracking via your device (eg on iPhone go to Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit ad tracking) and biggest ad networks (for Google, go to Google account and turn off ad personalization)
  • Request your data be deleted once you stop using the app. Simply deleting an app from your device usually does not erase your personal data.
  • When starting a sign-up, do not agree to tracking of your data if possible.
  • mobile

Can it snoop on me? information

Camera

Device: Yes

App: Yes

Microphone

Device: Yes

App: Yes

Tracks location

Device: Yes

App: Yes

What can be used to sign up?

Parents and Guardians sign up and create a Spacetalk account using their Email, Phone number and Password.

What data does the company collect?

How does the company use this data?

We ding this product as it combines data on users with personal data collected from third parties and for potentially selling data as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act

Privacy Policy says:
"Information We Collect From Third Parties
We collect personal information from other sources including our trusted partnerships with service providers and where we operate accounts email platforms, advertising networks, and social media platforms. We may also receive personal information from retailers in connection customer service inquiries."

THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE COLLECT, HOLD, USE AND DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION
"combine or aggregate your personal information with data we collect from third parties and use it for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy;

Spacetalk's privacy policy provices a link for California users covered under the CCPA privacy law to opt out of the sale of any personal information. This indicates Spacetalk might sell personal information under the CCPA definition of "sale". "For more information about opting out of any sales of personal information you can also visit the Do Not Sell My Personal Information Link."

Privacy Policy says:
THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE COLLECT, HOLD, USE AND DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION
send marketing communication to you

Data is shared for advertisement purposes.
Privacy Policy says:
"Like most companies, we allow certain third-party advertising partners to place tracking technology such as cookies and pixels on our websites. This technology allows these advertising partners to receive information about your activities on our website, which is then associated with your browser or device. These companies may use this data to serve you more relevant ads as you browse the internet. Under some state laws, this type of sharing may be considered a “sale” of personal information. Spacetalk has no actual knowledge of any sales of personal information of minors under 16 years of age."

"Because Spacetalk and STW are part of a global business and group of companies, information may be shared with other related business units around the world. Information will be treated confidentially and only disclosed on a need to know basis."

How can you control your data?

It is not guaranteed in the privacy policy that everyone can access or delete their data regardless of location.

"The laws of some countries grant particular rights in respect of personal information. Users in those jurisdictions may have the right to: [...] Request that your information be deleted or that we restrict access to it. [...] Should you wish to make a request in respect of your personal information please contact us at [email protected]."

In some circumstances, request will not be granted:
"In some circumstances we may not be able to comply with a request that you make in respect of your personal data. For example, we may not be able to provide a copy of your information where it infringes on the rights of another User. We may also be required to retain certain information that you ask us to delete for various reasons, such as where there is a legal requirement to do so. In some cases, you may have shared your information with third parties, such as by publishing a design on a third party’s website. In that case we will not be able to delete the information, and you will need to contact that third party directly."

Retention details: Transactional data is held for a period of three months. Personal data that is no longer needed will be deleted or anonymized.

What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?

Average

No known data leaks or breaches discovered in the last three years.

Child Privacy Information

"Whilst some of our products are aimed for child safety and supporting guardians and the holders of parental responsibility to monitor and protect their child’s safety. We do not knowingly solicit personal information from children and the services are not offered to children."

Can this product be used offline?

Yes

Time, Alarm Clock, Funny Sounds, Calendar, Album, Fitness, Timer, Calculator, Flashlight, Stopwatch can all be used when offline.

User-friendly privacy information?

No

Links to privacy information

Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards? information

Yes

Encryption

Yes

Data is sent between Spacetalk Adventurer, Servers and Spacetalk apps is encrypted and sent using SSL and encrypted using AES ciphers.

Strong password

Yes

Security updates

Yes

Manages vulnerabilities

Yes

Privacy policy

Yes

Does the product use AI? information

No

*Privacy Not Included

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