Ostrzeżenie: *Prywatność dla tego produktu do nabycia osobno
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.
Co się może stać, jeśli coś pójdzie nie tak?
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?
Wskazówki, jak się chronić
- 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.
Czy może mnie podsłuchiwać?
Aparat
Urządzenie: Tak
Aplikacja: Tak
Mikrofon
Urządzenie: Tak
Aplikacja: Tak
Śledzi położenie
Urządzenie: Tak
Aplikacja: Tak
Czego można użyć do rejestracji?
Tak
Telefon
Nie
Konto firmy trzeciej
Tak
Apple and Google log-ins available
Jakie dane zbiera ta firma?
Osobiste
Name, mobile telephone number, email address, and your child’s name, age, photo, and relationship to you. Name, address, email, phone numbers where you can be reached, images, date of birth, driver's license number, Social Security Number or Tax Identifier and payment information; Location
Związane z ciałem
Audio and video call and messaging usage between you and your child and messages you send to your child If your child uses a GizmoWatch Disney Edition, you have the option to enter medical information via the GizmoHub app to display on the watch when someone presses the SOS button.
Społecznościowe
Jak ta firma wykorzystuje te dane?
Jak możesz kontrolować swoje dane?
Jaka jest znana historia tej firmy w zakresie ochrony danych użytkowników?
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.
Informacje o prywatności dziecka
Czy ten produkt może być używany bez połączenia z siecią?
Przyjazne dla użytkownika informacje o prywatności?
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.
Odnośniki do informacji o prywatności
Czy ten produkt spełnia nasze minimalne standardy bezpieczeństwa?
Szyfrowanie
Silne hasło
Aktualizacje zabezpieczeń
Zajmuje się problemami z bezpieczeństwem
You can report vulnerabilities to https://www.verizon.com/solutions-and-services/report-security-vulnerability/
Zasady ochrony prywatności
Dowiedz się więcej
-
Data breach exposed millions of Verizon customers' account infoAndroid Police
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The Best Smartwatches and Phones for Kids 2023Wirecutter
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The Best Smartwatches For Kids To Keep Families ConnectedForbes
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Privacy and Security Evaluation of the Verizon GizmoWatchCommon Sense
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Privacy Evaluation for GizmoHubCommon Sense
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Verizon faces scrutiny for automatically tracking subscriber informationConsumer Affairs
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The Best Smartwatches For Kids (And Parents) To Stay ConnectedForbes
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The Best Smartwatches and Phones for KidsThe New York Times
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Smartwatch Privacy for Kids During the Coronavirus PandemicCommon Sense
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Verizon might collect your browsing data even if you previously opted outEngadget
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Verizon customers might want to check their privacy settings ASAPInput
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FCC Proposes $48.3M Fine against Verizon in Location Information CaseFederal Communications Commission
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How To Opt Out of Verizon’s New Data Collection PolicyClark
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Verizon Breach: 6 Million Customer Accounts ExposedBank Info Security
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Verizon might be collecting your browsing history and here’s how to stop itThe Verge
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Verizon overrides users’ opt-out preferences in push to collect browsing historyArs Technica
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Use the Verizon app? Check your settings to protect your privacyUSA Today
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The FCC Fines Wireless Companies for Selling Users' Location DataWired
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