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Are you aware you're commenting on a nostalgic bluetooth kids phone which pairs to your mobile phone in the same way a headset does?
by cr3ative 5y ago
Are you aware you're commenting on a nostalgic bluetooth kids phone which pairs to your mobile phone in the same way a headset does?
- linker3000 5y agoYep. My comment was more along the lines of 'connectivity can be fun/useful, but sometimes there's a privacy trade-off'. I'd consider myself 'aware' rather than 'paranoid', but if we extrapolate for a minute....Some function or app on the phone (or distant cloud service) can recognise the MAC address of the Fisher price phone's bluetooth PHY and, coupled with GPS info, we have a location where there's possibly a young child (or an older one in their home office!). Maybe, worse case, your targeted ads contain more children's toys.
- 300bps 5y agoSome function or app on the phone (or distant cloud service) can recognise the MAC address of the Fisher price phone's bluetooth PHY That’s not how MAC addresses work. Once a packet crosses a router, the packet appears to come from the MAC address of the router. So for example a web site you connect to has no idea what your MAC address is.
- inetknght 5y ago> So for example a web site you connect to has no idea what your MAC address is. ...unless you (or the app you're running) tells it.
- linker3000 5y agoExactly.
- oseityphelysiol 5y agoBluetooth uses MAC addresses too, so this still applies.
- zymhan 5y agoAnd no one farther than 30 feet from you will see your Bluetooth hardware address.
- oseityphelysiol 5y agoYeah, but someone in your home might have a rogue phone app installed (or not even that, I bet companies like Xiaomi already so this with their smart home stuff) that scans bluetooth devices and sends the addresses so that they can be data mined.
- linker3000 5y agoWell, I'd disagree with the first statement having worked with IPX/SPX ;-) But, yeah, you're not wrong for IP networking - however, an app on the phone could forward the MAC address of the bluetooth connected device.
- vlovich123 5y agoRegular apps can't typically access the MAC address of the connected device. Additionally, with BLE (& Bluetooth 5?) the MAC address is required to rotate regularly as part of the spec (IIRC even while connected but certainly the broadcast address).
- SwaraLink 5y agoBLE has a privacy feature that enables MAC address rotation, but it isn't a requirement. Apple products and Android phones use the privacy feature, but other than that most products don't. The possibility of tracking someone via the MAC address of their Bluetooth devices is very real. But you are correct that regular apps can't address the MAC address of connected Bluetooth devices, so the tracking vulnerability that OP is suggesting isn't really possible.
- cmaggiulli 5y agoSo can you dial out on the toy? Or can you only dial out on the mobile device that the toy phone connects to?
- Sophira 5y agoThe description seems to say that you can dial out on the toy, but it connects via Bluetooth to the mobile device to do so: "Connects to your mobile device with Bluetooth® wireless technology to make and receive calls through your existing phone plan—no additional line required (Compatible with IOS and Android™ devices)"
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- lostlogin 5y agoOther than it making horrible noises, is there anything you’d want less on a kids toy? Calling random people doesn’t seem like something that’s a good idea.
- K7PJP 5y agoIt isn’t for kids. It says so right on the page.
- lostlogin 5y agoI’ve just re-read it and can’t see that it does. Reading it with that in mind however makes it obviously correct. The closest I could find to it saying that was the customer questions, one of which was answered with, “This one is intended for adult collectors.”