Germany puts blanket ban on smartwatches for kids

Berlin Nov 18 (IANS) Germany s telecommunications regulator has announced a blanket ban on smartwatches for children over privacy concerns and asked parents to destroy the ones already purchased.

"Via an app parents can use such children s watches to listen unnoticed to the child s environment and they are to be regarded as an unauthorised transmitting system " Jochen Homann President Federal Network Agency was quoted as saying by BBC late on Friday.

In a statement the regulator said it had already taken action against several companies offering such smartwatches on online platforms.

These smartwatches are sold by a large number of vendors in Germany.

They are generally for children between the ages of five and 12 and are equipped with a SIM card and a limited telephony function which can be set up and controlled through an app.

Concerns have been growing over such wearables for kids that have become popular.

In a similar move European watchdog group Norwegian Consumer Council also issued a strongly-worded report warning of safety concerns over GPS-enabled devices.

The agency specifically highlighted four kids smartwatch brands -- Gator 2 Tinitell Viksfjord and Xplora.

--IANS
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