Verizon GizmoWatch

Waarschuwing: *Privacy niet inbegrepen bij dit product

Verizon GizmoWatch

Verizon
Bluetooth

Beoordelingsdatum: 1 november 2023

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Mozilla zegt

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Mensen stemden op: Supergriezelig

Verizon sells this smartwatch/wrist phone for kids alongside a cell service plan. The watch, targeted at the younger kid age-group who aren't quite old enough to have a phone of their own, lets parents and caregivers track kids with GPS location, has video calling, voice calling, video messaging, an auto-answer features and an SOS button. Parents and guardians can set up a list of 19 trusted contacts that the child can call, set up reminders, track steps, and push to-do lists through the GizmoHub app. So, what about privacy? Verizon doesn't exactly have the best track record at protecting their users' privacy, so that's something parents should consider before strapping this device on their 6 year old's wrist.

Wat kan er gebeuren als er iets misgaat?

Verizon isn’t exactly known as a company with a good reputation for protecting and respecting their user’s privacy. In fact, they’ve actually been kinda awful. There’s the proposed fine from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to protect consumer’s location data (they were accused of selling access to it when they shouldn’t have). There are the reports of them forcing people (even those who opt- out) into letting them look at your browsing history, including the websites you go to, what apps you use, and potentially even who you called or texted. And then there is their terrible stance on net neutrality (the idea that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally, not given special treatment depending on where it comes from). Remember when they got caught throttling the data of California firefighters trying to battle a huge blaze in 2018. Yeah, Verizon isn’t exactly the most trustworthy company when it comes to privacy.

So, when they offer up a Gizmowatch and GizmoHub app for kids that can track them using GPS, uses cellular data to send calls, voice and text messages, as well as track steps and more, we admit, we were skeptical. Why would anyone want to let a company with such a history of privacy violations and bad acting track their young child?

So, are the Gizmowatch and GizmoHub app as bad as we feared? Yes, it seems so. Verizon’s privacy policies say that Verizon can collect a whole lot of personal information and data on you and your child. They say in their Gizmo specific privacy policy they can collect things like your name, mobile telephone number, email address, and your child’s name, age and gender, as well as email address, mobile telephone number, audio and video call and messages sent between your trusted contact and your child. That’s the information they say they collect on you and your kid. Then they add what additional information they collect on your child, which includes device identifiers (such as mobile telephone number), geolocation and audio call usage. messaging usage, the number of steps taken, and text messages exchanged between your child and you and between your child and your trusted contacts. So, the tl;dr of all that is, Verizon collects a lot of information.

And what does Verizon say they can do with this information? Well, they say this, “We use the information we collect to deliver, maintain, support and improve Gizmo services, including to provide you with precise geolocation information for your Gizmo devices, and for analytics. Approximate geolocation identifying an area of approximately 2/3 of a mile radius of your child may also be used by our partner Accuweather to provide weather updates if requested by GizmoWatch Disney Edition and GizmoWatch 2 users.” Which sounds like it might be fine, but also is rather vague.

The good news is, they say they won't sell any share or sell your child's information, "We share personal information with vendors who work on our behalf. These vendors are contractually obligated to use personal information shared with them solely to help us provide Gizmo services and not for advertising, profile creation, or any other purpose. We do not sell, share or use your or your child’s information for any other purposes." The bad news is, they say they can sell personal information for those of us who aren't under 16 years old, "Since 2022 and presently, we engage in online selling or sharing when we share information with advertising technology companies present on our websites who combine that information with information they collect about your visits to other sites or that they otherwise have about you to provide more personalized advertising to you. This occurs through the use of cookies, pixels, tags and similar technologies. We may engage in offline sales and sharing when we obtain personal information from or share personal information we have about you with other companies to better target ads to you." Boo!

What’s the worst that could happen with Verizon’s GizmoWatch? Well, this is a smartwatch that tracks location, has video and voice calling, and and auto-answer function that lets the watch automatically answer calls in 10 seconds and then end that call after one minute. That sort of "discreet monitoring" function always gives us pause as it seems easy to abuse. All of this and you have to trust Verizon -- a company that hasn't always been trustworthy when it comes to their consumers' privacy -- to protect everything this watch can collect. We are worried a lot could go wrong suggest you be cautious of Verizon's Gizmowatch.

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 om uzelf te beschermen

- Opt out from sale of personal information
- 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 necessary)
- 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

Kan het me bespioneren? informatie

Camera

Apparaat: Ja

App: Ja

Microfoon

Apparaat: Ja

App: Ja

Volgt locatie

Apparaat: Ja

App: Ja

Wat is er nodig om u aan te melden?

Apple and Google log-ins available

Welke gegevens verzamelt het bedrijf?

Hoe gebruikt het bedrijf deze gegevens?

We ding this product for potentially combining data with data obtained from third parties and using that for targeted advertising purposes and for potentially selling data under the California CCPA definition of sale for targeted advertising purposes.

Verizon Gizmo Privacy Policy
"We share personal information with vendors who work on our behalf. These vendors are contractually obligated to use personal information shared with them solely to help us provide Gizmo services and not for advertising, profile creation, or any other purpose. We do not sell, share or use your or your child’s information for any other purposes."

"Information we collect from your child (including children under 13).
When your child uses a Gizmo wearable, we collect device information (such as identifiers, mobile telephone number, operating system, and watch version), app and feature usage, location, audio call usage, and wireless network data usage. When your child uses Gizmo Gadget, GizmoWatch, GizmoWatch2, GizmoWatch 3, GizmoWatch Mickey Mouse 90th Anniversary Edition or GizmoWatch Disney Edition, we also collect messaging usage, the number of steps taken, and text messages exchanged between your child and you and between your child and your trusted contacts and buddies. These devices, other than GizmoGadget, also collect audio messages exchanged between your child and you and between your child and your trusted contacts or buddies. If your child uses GizmoWatch Disney Edition or GizmoWatch 3, we also collect video calling usage as well as photo and video messages exchanged between your child and you, and between your child and your trusted contacts which include other Gizmo device users and buddies if you add them as trusted contacts.

We use the information we collect to deliver, maintain, support and improve Gizmo services, including to provide you with location information for your Gizmo devices, and for analytics. Approximate geolocation identifying an area of approximately ⅔ of a mile radius of your child may also be used by our partner Accuweather to provide weather updates if requested by GizmoWatch Disney Edition, GizmoWatch 2, and GizmoWatch 3 users.

We do not collect more information from Gizmo devices than is reasonably necessary to deliver Gizmo services. Gizmo products and services do not allow children to make their personal information publicly available. We use your child’s information as outlined above and for no other purposes.

We retain account information as long as your Gizmo account is active in the GizmoHub app. We retain activity logs for up to 60 days from when you close your account."

"For the Gizmo services to work, you must provide consent through the GizmoHub app for us to collect information from your child, as well as your and your child’s location. Your precise location, your child’s precise location, and other information collected about your child is “sensitive personal information” under some state laws. Your consent is required for us to collect, use and disclose such information, and we will not do so without your consent."

"You may revoke your consent at any time, however, certain Gizmo services will not be available without your consent. You may review the information collected from Gizmo devices. To revoke consent or request to review information, please contact us by email, telephone or mail at the address listed below."

Verizon Privacy Policy

"Since 2022 and presently, we engage in online selling or sharing when we share information with advertising technology companies present on our websites who combine that information with information they collect about your visits to other sites or that they otherwise have about you to provide more personalized advertising to you. This occurs through the use of cookies, pixels, tags and similar technologies. We may engage in offline sales and sharing when we obtain personal information from or share personal information we have about you with other companies to better target ads to you or when we use personal information as part of our own internal programs."

"Our customers and website visitors can limit the sale and sharing of personal information as well as the use of this information for certain types of targeted advertising. California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia laws give consumers the right to make these opt out choices. California law also gives business customers the right to limit the sale and sharing of personal information."

"We also obtain information from others. This includes: ...
Demographic and interest data as well as device type, carrier, city and state information from third party data providers
For example, this information could include gender, age range, education level, sports enthusiast, frequent diner and other demographics and interests.

Information from social media platforms when you interact with us via social media or use your social media login to interact with Verizon sites or offers
This includes information we obtain from your public profile as well as interests, "likes" and similar information you permit social media companies to share with us.

Contact, marketing lead and other information we purchase or receive
This includes lead information we purchase as well as leads we obtain from "refer a friend" and similar programs."

"We share information about your activity on our websites and apps.
We allow certain third-party advertising companies 19 to collect information about your activity on our sites and in our apps, or may send information to them. They can use that information to help us provide more relevant Verizon advertising on our own and other sites and apps. These companies may combine information from our sites with similar information they collect on other sites to determine whether you fit into an audience that advertisers, including Verizon, are trying to reach."

"We may de-identify or aggregate information so that Verizon or others may use it for business and marketing purposes. For example, the data we aggregate might be used to analyze, personalize and improve our services, to provide business and marketing insights to others and to help make advertising more relevant to you. You have choices about some of these uses."

"We, and third party companies acting on our behalf, collect information from our sites and apps for operational purposes such as improving website and app security, authenticating you, detecting and deterring fraud, improving site performance and providing content or analytics. We and these third-party companies may use cookies, pixels, tags, web beacons and scripts, or use similar technologies on our pages and the browsers you use and may access advertising identifiers from your mobile device operating systems."

"We allow certain third-party advertising companies to collect information about your activity on our sites and in our apps, or may send information to them. They can use that information to help us provide more relevant Verizon advertising on our own and other sites and apps. These companies may combine information from our sites with similar information they collect on other sites to determine whether you fit into an audience that advertisers, including Verizon, are trying to reach.
We and these companies use cookies, pixels, tags, web beacons, scripts, application programming interfaces (APIs) or similar technologies on our pages and the browsers you use and may access advertising identifiers from your mobile device operating systems.
Our customers and website visitors can limit the sale and sharing of personal information as well as the use of this information for certain types of targeted advertising. California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia laws give consumers the right to make these opt out choices. California law also gives business customers the right to limit the sale and sharing of personal information.
In addition, we require that advertising companies disclose when they are using interest-based advertising techniques to deliver ads on our sites and apps as well as when they deliver Verizon ads on other sites. We also require them to offer you the ability to opt out of this use of your information.
Verizon sites and services may also include social networks or other third-party plug-ins and widgets that may provide information to their associated social networks or third parties even if you do not click on or otherwise interact with the plug-ins and widgets. "

Hoe kunt u uw gegevens beheren?

It is unclear if all users regardless of location can get their data deleted. Verizon's privacy policy only mentions deletion rights for users living in states with strong privacy laws that guarantee that right, not everyone else.

Verizon Gizmo Privacy Policy
Your Rights Under State Laws.
You may have additional privacy rights under state privacy laws. You can read more in the full privacy policy. To access, delete or correct your personal information, sign in to the Gizmo app on your mobile device.

Verizon Privacy Policy
"The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides California residents with specific rights. ...
You have the right to access, delete and correct information. "

"Our customers and website visitors can limit the sale and sharing of personal information as well as the use of this information for certain types of targeted advertising. California, Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia laws give consumers the right to make these opt out choices. California law also gives business customers the right to limit the sale and sharing of personal information."

Hoe staat het bedrijf bekend als het gaat om het beschermen van gebruikersgegevens?

Slecht

In March 2023, records on over 7 million Verizon users were posted to Breached Forums, a popular hacker forum. The data included contract information, device information, encrypted customer IDs, and more — but it does not appear that unencrypted personal data was included in the leak.

In 2021, Verizon overrided users’ opt-out preferences in a push to collect browsing history.

In 2020, a fine of $48.3M was proposed by FCC against Verizon in Location Information Case.

Verizon was fined in 2018 for selling users' locations.

In 2017, Verizon suffered a breach with 6 million records involved.

Privacyinformatie voor kinderen

Verizon Privacy Policy

Verizon Gizmo Privacy Policy

Information we collect from your child (including children under 13). When your child uses a Gizmo wearable, we collect device information (such as identifiers, mobile telephone number, operating system, and watch version), app and feature usage, location, audio call usage, and wireless network data usage. When your child uses Gizmo Gadget, GizmoWatch, GizmoWatch2, GizmoWatch 3, GizmoWatch Mickey Mouse 90th Anniversary Edition or GizmoWatch Disney Edition, we also collect messaging usage, the number of steps taken, and text messages exchanged between your child and you and between your child and your trusted contacts and buddies. These devices, other than GizmoGadget, also collect audio messages exchanged between your child and you and between your child and your trusted contacts or buddies. If your child uses GizmoWatch Disney Edition or GizmoWatch 3, we also collect video calling usage as well as photo and video messages exchanged between your child and you, and between your child and your trusted contacts which include other Gizmo device users and buddies if you add them as trusted contacts.

We use the information we collect to deliver, maintain, support and improve Gizmo services, including to provide you with location information for your Gizmo devices, and for analytics. Approximate geolocation identifying an area of approximately ⅔ of a mile radius of your child may also be used by our partner Accuweather to provide weather updates if requested by GizmoWatch Disney Edition, GizmoWatch 2, and GizmoWatch 3 users.

We do not collect more information from Gizmo devices than is reasonably necessary to deliver Gizmo services. Gizmo products and services do not allow children to make their personal information publicly available. We use your child’s information as outlined above and for no other purposes.

We retain account information as long as your Gizmo account is active in the GizmoHub app. We retain activity logs for up to 60 days from when you close your account.

Kan dit product offline worden gebruikt?

Nee

Gebruikersvriendelijke privacy-informatie?

Nee

Verizon's privacy policies aren't the worst we've ever read but we wouldn't go so far as to call them user friendly.

Koppelingen naar privacy-informatie

Voldoet dit product aan onze minimale beveiligingsnormen? informatie

Ja

Versleuteling

Ja

Sterk wachtwoord

Ja

Beveiligingsupdates

Ja

Beheert kwetsbaarheden

Ja

Privacybeleid

Ja

Gebruikt het product AI? informatie

Kan niet bepalen

Is deze AI onbetrouwbaar?

Kan niet bepalen

Wat voor soort beslissingen neemt de AI over u of voor u?

Is het bedrijf transparant over hoe de AI werkt?

Kan niet bepalen

Heeft de gebruiker controle over de AI-functies?

Kan niet bepalen

*Privacy niet inbegrepen

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