Mozilla published its annual buyer’s guide of safe internet connected products

Mozilla published its annual buyer’s guide of safe internet connected products. The aim of the guide is to assist consumers in their decision making of purchasing IoT devices. These products fit into six categories — toys & games, smart home, entertainment, wearables, health & exercise, and pets. for each device, Mozilla created the following checklist:  (1) Minimum security standards – a five-point security scale based on the following security standards: the use of encryption, how it handles automatic security updates, requirements for a strong password, a system to manage vulnerabilities and having an accessible privacy policy. (2) Can it snoop on me – whether the device includes a camera, microphone and location tracker. (3) How does it handle privacy – analysis of the privacy documentation (e.g. privacy policies, privacy pages, FAQs) for each company selling these products to determine how data is shared with third parties, whether or not users could request deletion of their data, the accessibility/readability of the privacy information, whether biometric data is collected, and the existence of parental controls if relevant. (4) Worst case scenario – what could happen if something went wrong. (5) Creep-O-Meter (users’ response) – this measure is aimed at consumers to share their own opinions. Users can read the review of the product, then rate how creepy or not creepy they think the product is and how likely they are to buy it. The list is presented while dividing the devices into five broad categories, ranging from “not creepy” to “super creepy”.