Smart Home Speakers

Smart home automation devices, particularly smart speakers, are extremely popular with millennial parents and their kids.

10:14 21 August 2017

According to statistics, there are now forty-five million voice-assisted devices in the United States and many of them are being used by children, which makes privacy issues an immediate concern.

 

Amobee’s Jonathan Cohen, a principal brand analyst, said that parents must prioritise their children’s safety and security in using such devices. He added: “For parents, the key issue around smart speakers is safety, meaning they need to know that their children are protected from age-inappropriate content or interactions and that their children’s data is secure and won’t be hacked by a predatory third party. Voice-assistant technology can be a powerful enrichment tool, but the fact that kids can potentially be conversing on these platforms before they’re even able to read or write, means the most stringent parental controls need to be in place.”

 

The Federal Trade Commission recommends the use of state-of-the-art tools in building IoT systems and devices so brands can help their consumers to prevent unauthorised access. It also states that marketers should have third-party partners fully on board to eliminate security leaks.

 

Parents can add another and perhaps, the most important layer of security, by educating themselves and their children on ways to protect themselves against hackers.