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Amazon.com Inc., whose home and monitoring devices have drawn criticism from privacy advocates, has considered developing an Alexa-powered wearable device for children.
Code name Seeker, the device equipped with a GPS would be intended for children aged 4 through 12 and could take the form of a bracelet, keychain or clip, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The voice-activated laptop would provide access to Amazon’s kid-focused content and allow parents to communicate with and monitor their children.
Amazon was exploring the concept of the device in mid-2019 as part of its product roadmap for 2020, and it is not known whether the project has advanced.
The company has sought to develop various Alexa-enabled products targeting children. A wearable Disney gadget codenamed Magic Band is expected to arrive this year, according to the documents. It is not known if this is a toy or if it is associated with the Magic guest tracking bracelet. Walt Disney Co. is deployed in its parks and hotels.
The two companies are already working together in various ways. Amazon’s cloud computing division powers the Disney + streaming service, and earlier this year Amazon began offering its music service subscribers several months of free Disney +.
Amazon and Disney declined to comment.
Amazon also had plans to release an Alexa-powered karaoke microphone dubbed Jackson on Prime Day, but no such device was available during the annual two-day sale last month.
The e-commerce giant planned to sell the Seeker laptop aimed at children for $ 99, including wireless connectivity and one year of access to the company’s FreeTime Unlimited subscription, which has since been renamed Kids +. Subscription costs $ 2.99 per month to access children’s books, movies, TV shows, apps and games and allows parents to set screen time limits and filter content depending on the age of the child.
A device aimed at children would mark an expansion of Amazon’s ambitions in consumer hardware. Last year, the company launched a fitness band called Halo that can track the wearer’s physical activity, sleep, body fat, and mood. The company also worked on a domestic robot.
Advocacy groups and lawmakers have in the past criticized Amazon’s privacy protection for devices aimed at children. In 2019, the Campaign for an Ad-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy, along with other groups, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. He argued that Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids edition violated children’s privacy rights by collecting data without verifiable parental consent.
The complaint also said the company keeps device records indefinitely, unless a parent explicitly requests that they be deleted, and said the process of reviewing the information the devices collect is cumbersome. Several U.S. senators have also called on the FTC to investigate whether Amazon violated children’s online privacy law with the device. Amazon said at the time that it was compliant with the law and on its corporate website sets out the measures it has taken to protect the privacy of FreeTime subscribers.
In fall 2019, Amazon unveiled new privacy tools, including an activation feature that allows users to automatically delete their Alexa records on a periodic basis. Improvements in privacy have followed a Bloomberg reports that thousands of Amazon employees around the world were reviewing audio clips collected by Alexa devices in an attempt to improve their responses to orders.
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