Germany Bans Children's Smartwatches

DooKey

DooKey

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A German regulator has banned the sale of smartwatches aimed at children, describing them as spying devices. It had previously banned an internet-connected doll called, My Friend Cayla, for similar reasons. Telecoms regulator the Federal Network Agency urged parents who had such watches to destroy them. All I've got to say about that is.....dilly, dilly. Company's have got to fix their stuff when it comes to child safety.

"Poorly secured smart devices often allow for privacy invasion. That is really concerning when it comes to kids' GPS tracking watches - the very watches that are supposed to help keep them safe," said Ken Munro, a security expert at Pen Test Partners.
 
The responsibility of researching their purchases should be on the citizen not the government.
 
SixFootDuo said:
A very intelligent and timely law. Love seeing Government act swiftly and correctly. Almost unheard of.
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A lot of these proper governments also ban advertising to children, including food companies. Some even go as far as banning toys in fast food meals. Their obesity rates and unhealthy eating habits are of course dramatically different from Americas.

Simmonz said:
The responsibility of researching their purchases should be on the citizen not the government.
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Yeah, I guess citizens should all go with the centrist libertarian garbage and also "research" what food is safe to eat, what drugs are safe to use, what the proper dosage of those drugs are, which vehicles have good safety ratings, what public transportation is properly maintained, etc.... How dare a government get involved to keep all their constituents healthy with food testing and safety monitoring, medical board testing of meds, transportation safety, etc....

"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and ONLY object of good government." - Thomas Jefferson
 
Now do the needful and ban smartphones for children under 18 :D so then i can go back to the fatherland
 
Simmonz said:
The responsibility of researching their purchases should be on the citizen not the government.
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Your display of logic is terrible. Parents are often and purposely lied to. Via untruthful marketing, unsavory and deceitful companies, state sponsored ( China? ) back-doors and malware that are purposely embedded into products.

It is virtually impossible for Parents to research against this as often all of this is mostly found out after the fact. Governments that truly care about their nations youth will always act swiftly to stop this.

Here in the US, companies have to be compelled to remove products from store shelves. I promise you friend, Capitalism does not care about your Child.
 
SixFootDuo said:
Your display of logic is terrible. Parents are often and purposely lied to. Via untruthful marketing, unsavory and deceitful companies, state sponsored ( China? ) back-doors and malware that are purposely embedded into products.

It is virtually impossible for Parents to research against this as often all of this is mostly found out after the fact. Governments that truly care about their nations youth will always act swiftly to stop this.

Here in the US, companies have to be compelled to remove products from store shelves. I promise you friend, Capitalism does not care about your Child.
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While you make a good point and I generally agree with you, at the same time as a parent I find avoiding obviously dumb shit works really damn well. For example in no scenario have I ever thought "My kid needs a smart watch" or "Fast food is healthy" or "Processed cereal is healthy" and a slew of other things. So I can't say I really need a bunch of help from the government to protect me. That said, most people are pretty much mob mentality morons so laws like this are a good thing.
 
Simmonz said:
The responsibility of researching their purchases should be on the citizen not the government.
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Honestly this cant possibly work. It is up to the government to help police companies into keeping their products safe. Imagine if every item you choose to buy you had to do deep research into it. Society would be utter garbage because people would never trust new brands, or they would spend so much time researching products that they wouldn't buy many, and even so most people still wouldn't have the knowledge in so many diverse fields to make decisions. if you admit it or not the reality is everything in life is based off trust. When you don't know about a product you trust your friends or people you think do know, you trust the government, the grocery stores, everything. The government has to keep that trust at some minimum level otherwise consumers freeze up their spending. You see this a lot in third world countries its part of why their economies are so much smaller.
 
rudy said:
Honestly this cant possibly work. It is up to the government to help police companies into keeping their products safe. Imagine if every item you choose to buy you had to do deep research into it. Society would be utter garbage because people would never trust new brands, or they would spend so much time researching products that they wouldn't buy many, and even so most people still wouldn't have the knowledge in so many diverse fields to make decisions. if you admit it or not the reality is everything in life is based off trust. When you don't know about a product you trust your friends or people you think do know, you trust the government, the grocery stores, everything. The government has to keep that trust at some minimum level otherwise consumers freeze up their spending. You see this a lot in third world countries its part of why their economies are so much smaller.
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You don't "deep research" the products you buy? Do you trust "new brands" or just not buy many, and how many fields are you buying in that you "just can't make an educated decision?"
If you want to trust friends with blind trust, so be it, however you should be highly critical of people and things you don't know, including government. It's to your benefit to apply your own standards and logic.

The government only has to keep a "trust minimum" to keep turds in line, it doesn't give a fuck about you.
The third world countries are in ruin because they are dictatorships and the like, not capitalistic, not entrusting their people.
 
I think you hit it right on the head with your "mob mentality" comment .... I am constantly being stunned at how ignorant people are about marketing and what they are being told day after day about products and services. I listen to them at the Store, Coffee Shop, Social outings and just in general. From bs diet pills to foods to natural ED meds, to books, products, to how you have a right to have the IRS forgive your Tax Debts, one of my favs btw, you name it. It's a constant storm of utter and complete bs and tons and tons of people believe it and ultimately buy into it.

At least for now the Gov tries to stop it from infecting more Americans than it already does.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I think you hit it right on the head with your "mob mentality" comment .... I am constantly being stunned at how ignorant people are about marketing and what they are being told day after day about products and services. I listen to them at the Store, Coffee Shop, Social outings and just in general. From bs diet pills to foods to natural ED meds, to books, products, to how you have a right to have the IRS forgive your Tax Debts, one of my favs btw, you name it. It's a constant storm of utter and complete bs and tons and tons of people believe it and ultimately buy into it.

At least for now the Gov tries to stop it from infecting more Americans than it already does.
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How?
 
Dekoth-E- said:
While you make a good point and I generally agree with you, at the same time as a parent I find avoiding obviously dumb shit works really damn well. For example in no scenario have I ever thought "My kid needs a smart watch" or "Fast food is healthy" or "Processed cereal is healthy" and a slew of other things. So I can't say I really need a bunch of help from the government to protect me. That said, most people are pretty much mob mentality morons so laws like this are a good thing.
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About your processed cereal example. Sure most people know that's not healthy, but there are a lot of food products where it is much less clear what exactly is in it, and how it was grown/raised. I'm on a certain diet that involves avoiding nightshades and in the US they just aren't required to label them. They will often use very generic names like "natural colors/flavors" which may or may not contain nightshades but there is no way of knowing because we don't actually get accurate labelling on our food. I just can't really see a downside FOR CONSUMERS to properly labeling food.

The FDA (a "for the people" government agency supposedly) is actually a big part of that problem too though. So many areas of our government have become corrupt that it's hard to trust any of them, but scrapping all regulations entirely is kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I agree with your general point about people being unthinking morons though. :ROFLMAO: And a lot of them seem to have kids...
 
I have recently came back from Germany. I couldn’t spot a single smartwatch. People aren’t into that thing.
 
risc said:
You don't "deep research" the products you buy? Do you trust "new brands" or just not buy many, and how many fields are you buying in that you "just can't make an educated decision?"
If you want to trust friends with blind trust, so be it, however you should be highly critical of people and things you don't know, including government. It's to your benefit to apply your own standards and logic.

The government only has to keep a "trust minimum" to keep turds in line, it doesn't give a fuck about you.
The third world countries are in ruin because they are dictatorships and the like, not capitalistic, not entrusting their people.
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Some people here want government to decide everything for them. Why let evil companies do it, we should have like 3 cars to pick from, small, medium, large, government will tell you which one fits you best. One approved bread, one gov approved meat, etc etc. Government approved media, after all, you wouldn't want anything bad to enter your life would you?
 
The primary reason these smartwatches were declared illegal is the ability to turn on the microphones without indication. Germany is a two-party consent jurisdiction when it comes to audio, i.e. you can't electronically eavesdrop on people without their consent. These smartwatches could be, and ostensibly have been, used to spy on anybody in the vicinity of you kid. Furthermore, this two-party consent applies to children as well, i.e. parents are not allowed to secretly record their kids.

opfreak said:
Some people here want government to decide everything for them. Why let evil companies do it, we should have like 3 cars to pick from, small, medium, large, government will tell you which one fits you best. One approved bread, one gov approved meat, etc etc. Government approved media, after all, you wouldn't want anything bad to enter your life would you?
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Free countries don't regulate which particular goods are allowed to enter the market, they define the conditions under which anybody can sell their goods. This ensures fair competition, as upstanding companies aren't being undercut by competitors who skimp on safety or reliability. This also helps out the customer, as you can be reasonably sure that even if you choose the cheapest car, it's not going to be a deathtrap, because even the cheapest car has to adhere to safety standards.

If you think these things can be left to corporations to manage amongst themselves, you've got a lot of history to catch up to.
 
in the US this appys in some states as well (recording audio without consent, i find it silly when its a public place) , also makes dashcams hard to use a they are technically illegal in germany
 
Germany seems to be banning or looking into a lot of stuff...kids smartwatches, Battlefront 2 and Overwatch loot boxes.
 
babadook said:
The primary reason these smartwatches were declared illegal is the ability to turn on the microphones without indication. Germany is a two-party consent jurisdiction when it comes to audio, i.e. you can't electronically eavesdrop on people without their consent. These smartwatches could be, and ostensibly have been, used to spy on anybody in the vicinity of you kid. Furthermore, this two-party consent applies to children as well, i.e. parents are not allowed to secretly record their kids.


Free countries don't regulate which particular goods are allowed to enter the market, they define the conditions under which anybody can sell their goods. This ensures fair competition, as upstanding companies aren't being undercut by competitors who skimp on safety or reliability. This also helps out the customer, as you can be reasonably sure that even if you choose the cheapest car, it's not going to be a deathtrap, because even the cheapest car has to adhere to safety standards.

If you think these things can be left to corporations to manage amongst themselves, you've got a lot of history to catch up to.
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Germany seems to be going full ban on these devices, not just rules. But I know some people love having a nanny cradle to grave.
 
opfreak said:
Germany seems to be going full ban on these devices, not just rules. But I know some people love having a nanny cradle to grave.
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"Nanny State" means that the government aims to protect citizens from themselves. The government protecting its citizens from things outside their control is not a nanny state.

Forcing people to buckle up in cars: nanny state
Forcing people to make sure their underaged kids are buckled up: not nanny state

Trying to get people to stop smoking: nanny state
Protecting non-smokers from passive smoking in public (access) spaces: not nanny state

Banning smartwatches because they're stupid: nanny state
Banning smartwatches designed to spy on your kids and people around them: not nanny state
 
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