Germany’s Network Agency Should Stop Telling Parents to Smash Their Kids’ Toys

Following an earlier prohibition on certain “smart dolls,” Germany’s Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, recently issued a blanket ban on children’s smartwatches that offer an audio link and ordered parents to destroy any watches they had already bought. As Nick Wallace writes, the agency’s position is not only bad for children, but suggests that German regulators might ban other smart devices that make up the Internet of Things. If regulators are worried that some customers might use ordinary devices for nefarious purposes, then they should call for tougher enforcement of existing laws against such behaviour.