Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL; DR
- Mozilla named three “scary” devices people should avoid during the Prime Day 2021 sale.
- Products include the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, ring doorbells and cameras, and the Amazon Echo Dot speakers.
Prime Day 2021 is just around the corner. Expect to see tons of deals on things like smart speakers, smartwatches, smart home products, and other electronics through June 21-22. Before you make your purchase, however, Mozilla, the organization behind the Firefox browser and an advocate for internet privacy, has identified three “creepy” products that you shouldn’t buy during this Prime Day sale.
See also: Amazon Prime Day: what is it and what to expect
In an Instagram post on safe shopping during Prime Day 2021, Mozilla recommended avoiding the purchase of Amazon’s Echo Dot smart speakers, ring doorbells and cameras, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.
The company cites data protection problems with all three products as the reason for its recommendation. It calls the Amazon Echo Dot to buy users with their personal data and to train Alexa’s voice recognition system with voice requests. If you still want to buy an Echo Dot, Mozilla recommends familiarizing yourself with deleting Alexa voice recordings.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is known for gathering a lot of personal information about users in one place. Samsung also says it may share this data with affiliates who may target users with ads. According to Mozilla, you should consider getting a Garmin smartwatch instead, as it appears to do “the best job of privacy and security” on their wearables and does not share user data for marketing purposes.
The ring doorbells and cameras, despite the company making two-factor authentication mandatory, were pulled up by Mozilla to share surveillance footage with law enforcement, raising concerns about racism and public safety. Mozilla says you should consider getting camera products from Eufy or Arlo instead.
What do you think of Mozilla’s list of scary products? If you got a good deal on any of the above, would you skip these after reading what the company says? Let us know in the comments section below.