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(CN) – The Attorney General of New Mexico has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the manufacturer of a children's game application sends the location, demographics and other personal information of children to advertisers without their consent , thus risking their privacy.
In an 85-page lawsuit filed in Albuquerque federal court on Tuesday, New Mexico's Attorney General Hector Balderas accuses Tiny Lab Productions, a Lithuanian-based application maker and its contracted advertisers, of violating the law on protection. Trade Commission Act.
The advertising partners are Google and Twitter, both named as defendants.
According to the complaint, forensic tests revealed that many Tiny Lab applications failed to obtain explicit and verifiable parental consent to collect data from children under 13 and did not report data collection and use.
"This behavior endangers the children of New Mexico, compromises their parents' ability to protect children and their privacy, and violates national and federal laws," the lawsuit says.
The personal information collected included geolocation data, which can reveal the precise location of the child using the application, as well as identifiers providing information that can be "reasonably" connected to a specific child, such as behaviors, demographics, and preferences.
"While kids and their parents think Tiny Lab games are innocent games, online games, the digital equivalent of puzzles, blocks or books, integrate coding into apps, allowing them to to exfiltrate the children's data. the complaint says.
According to the lawsuit, applications use coding called software development kits that send the child's data to advertisers, who then use it to track and profile the child for targeted advertising.
AG Balderas argues that companies benefit from data collection at the expense of the child's privacy, which also has more difficulty in differentiating the advertisements from the content.
He also claims that Google has misled users by allowing apps in the family section of his online store, giving false impression of adhering to children's privacy policies.
The complaint refers to 91 Tiny Lab apps designed to be played by minors, including "Fun Kid Racing", "Candy Land Racing", "Baby Toilet Race: Cleanup Fun" and "GummyBear and Friends Speed Racing".
Balderas is seeking a permanent injunction ordering companies to stop allegedly illegal tracking practices and destroy any improperly obtained personal data. He also wants nominal and punitive damages and civil penalties.
The Attorney General said in a statement: "These apps can track where kids live, play and go to school with incredible accuracy. These multi-million dollar technology companies collaborating with application developers are taking advantage of neo-mexican children and the unacceptable risk of data breach and access by third parties seeking to exploit and harm our children will not be tolerated in New Mexico.
Tiny Lab did not respond immediately Wednesday to a request by email for a comment.
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