Germany bans smartwatches for kids, urges parents to destroy them

Berlin: 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 by 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.