Amazon is in every part of our lives . Many of us use its Echo speakers and its Ring security cameras . It ’s our on-line shopping goal for stocking on menage necessary we need , like , yesterday . In many way , Amazon can be consider a public-service corporation for families . But considering themass of productsthat Amazon makes specifically tailor for kids , how do you protect your child from becoming a customer by procurator ?
This is something I ’m always consider about in general , but now more specifically given that Bloombergreportsthat Amazon was considering launching another entrance into its lineup for kids : an Alexa - powered smartwatch . Amazon , which currently earn a fittingness set for adult calledHalo , apparently came up with the smartwatch idea after Apple pluck out itsFamily Setupfeature for the Apple Watch . Family Setup countenance parents to tally place up and manage an Apple Watch for their kid .
According to Bloomberg :
Amazon can connect us and deliver diapers when we need them, but do they really need to sell a kid on a smartwatch?Photo: Florence Ion/Gizmodo
Codenamed Seeker , the GPS - equipped gimmick would be gear toward kid aged 4 to 12 and could take the form of a wristband , keychain or clip , according to documents look back by Bloomberg . The vocalism - trigger wearable would provide access to Amazon ’s children - focused capacity and allow parent communicate with and supervise their kids .
Amazon planned to sell the Seeker wearable for $ 100 and offer wireless connectivity plus a year ’s subscription to the rebrandedAmazon Kids+ . It ’s $ 3 a month for tike - friendly books , motion picture , tv set appearance , apps , and secret plan on any of Amazon ’s gadget , let in theEcho Showsmart display .
concord to the document obtained , Amazon was uprise additional Alexa - enable products for kids , include an Alexa - powered karaoke mike call Jackson . There ’s also a wearable machine being developed in part with Disney call the Magic Band . It should get later this year , though it ’s unclear if there ’s any affiliation with the currentMagicBandwristbands worn by Disney park and hotel guests .
Amazon ’s Alexa - powered gimmick have n’t had thebest track record with kids , to put it mildly . In 2019 , privacy and nipper advocatesfiled a complainturging the FTC to investigate whether Amazon ’s Echo Dot smart speakers were compliant with the Children ’s Online Privacy Protection Act ( COPPA ) .
At present , there are a few methods for parents to manage their children ’s fundamental interaction with the digital supporter : manually edit every recording from the Alexa splasher , set it up to sporadically delete recordings , or recollect to shout out to Alexa to scrub the last interaction . guess having to do that for every undivided command uttered by your kid to a theoretical Alexa - powered smartwatch while they ’re out of the home .
As a newfangled parent , I ’ve had to sail all sorts of predicaments in my widget life that I did n’t have to consider before . How connected do I want my small fry to be ? How many screenland do I want her to tap on before she ’s even capable to read ? It ’s a unmanageable balance between wanting to give her access code to what she needs to follow in a engineering - first humanity and protect her from being consumed by it . That ’s not to say I do n’t appreciate the kid - centered devices and app offerings . I gave in to my ownsurveillance of my toddlerbecause I ’m dire to know she ’s alright at all times , but that was after careful consideration for the product . report that Amazon is modernize kid - centric products add credence to the thought that my daughter is just a potential customer when technology companies consider developing these sort of twist .
It ’s not just Amazon planning ways to bring the rest of the family into the fold . Facebook , Google , andApplehave their own products , too . This is why it ’s clip to look at whether technology party should be sell directly to our children at all . The originalCOPPA actwas written in 1998 , before the onslaught of artificial intelligence and the ability for company toextract import from the intonationin a individual — a child’s!—voice . That ’s how Amazon trained Alexa to show along with a book . Until there are more protections to keep these seemingly harmless appliance from siphoning money - ready data from kids , parents and guardians are the only ones who can do the protecting .
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