Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Be Smart. Shop Safe. We created this guide to help you shop for safe, secure connected products.

“Welcome to Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included buyer’s guide. Our goal is to help you shop smart—and safe—for products that connect to the internet. In 2017, when we first started *Privacy Not Included, we didn’t know if people would be interested in a guide about the privacy and security of connected toys, gadgets, and smart home products. Turns out, they were. And it wasn’t just people who were interested. We discovered some companies were too. We’re happy to see both consumers and companies increasingly value connected products that are safe, secure, and private. Unfortunately, It is often difficult for consumers to get clear, concrete information from companies about the security and privacy of their connected products. Is your personal data shared or sold in ways you may not have expected? What is the company’s known track record for protecting the personal information they collect on you? How does the company regularly test for and fix security vulnerabilities? With this guide, we hope to help you navigate this landscape by understanding what questions you should ask and what answers you should expect before buying a connected tech product. The way we approach our research here at *Privacy Not Included is from the viewpoint of you, the consumer. We just have a bit more time and expertise to read privacy policies and delve into company’s security practices. We don’t purchase the products and test them in a lab. Consumers can’t do that. Instead, we look at all the information we can find that is publicly available to consumers before they purchase a product to try and understand the privacy and security concerns you should be aware of. We seek a future in which hours of research like this aren’t required to buy safe, responsible products. Unfortunately, it seems we have a long way to go. In the meantime, we’ll read those boring privacy policies so you don’t have to. What can you expect in our guide to help you shop safely for those connected products? Quite a few things…”

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.