Parents Urged to Boycott VTech
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After the VTech hack last year in November, parents are now being encouraged by Australian security specialist Troy Hunt to boycott the toy firm completely and take their money elsewhere.
In his blog, he detailed the many flaws with VTech’s products and claimed it to be misleading to have the attack described as ‘sophisticated’.
The company has issued new terms and conditions, which were released on Christmas Eve 2015.
They tell parents the following:
“You acknowledge and agree that you assume full responsibility for your use of the site and any software or firmware downloaded.”
“You acknowledge and agree that any information you send or receive during your use of the site may not be secure and may be intercepted or later acquired by unauthorised parties.”
“You acknowledge and agree that your use of the site and any software or firmware downloaded there from is at your own risk.”
Mr Hunt exclaimed that “people don’t even read these things!”
“If [VTech] honestly feel they’re not up to the task of protecting personal information, then perhaps put that on the box and allow consumers to consciously take their chances rather than implicitly opting into the ‘zero accountability’ clause.”
Hunt’s dismay was echoed by four other researchers, who saw similar problems with VTech’s service and T&Cs, including Ken Munro from Pen Test Partners, and Prof Angela Sasse – director of the UK Research Institute in Science of Cyber Security.
Many parents on Christmas day issued complaints in relation to their bought products, and one parent, Sharon McGee, wrote in a complaint: “To say I’m fuming is an understatement! I’ve a crying three year old all day, Santa brought him a broken gift!”
If you’re a parent, do yourself a favour, and buy your child some Lego.
At least that’s supposed to break from time to time.