‘Tis the season to give gifts to people you care about, and tech is always a popular choice. Who doesn’t like to unwrap a shiny new gadget? But you must be careful. Many of the hottest holiday items have a Wi-Fi connection, and each company or device has its own privacy policies. It’s no small task to look up each one of the products you buy, but there’s a shortcut you should know about.
The naughty list
Mozilla just released its latest *Privacy Not Included guide, which examined privacy policies of over 75 popular holiday gifts. They’re ranked from “Not creepy” to “Super creepy.” You can vote by sliding the emoji left or right for each entry. We’ve included the top five worst and best products regarding privacy policy length, ease of navigation and readability. It seems the worst offenders set out to confuse you intentionally. For example, the privacy of the Meta Quest Pro VR headset runs 37,700 words, split into 14 documents. Who is going to go through all that?
Super Creepy
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Try these instead
Now that you know which items to avoid, here are some better gift options:
Not creepy
Garmin Fenix: While Garmin does collect data such as sleep, pulse, heart rate and stress, that’s a given when it comes to any fitness tracker. The nice thing is Garmin protects that data. Sharing data with contacts is disabled by default, as is receiving marketing communications from Garmin. The Fenix 6 Pro features an always-on display, rugged construction, GPS, built-in sports apps, emergency SOS and more.
Eufy RoboVacs: Eufy’s line of robot vacuum cleaners doesn’t come with cameras, which is a good thing. They do have AI mapping technology to learn their way around your recipient’s home, however. Data is sent back to Eufy, which the company uses for targeted ads. Your best bet is a “dumb” robot vacuum like the 11S Max, which doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi. It’s great for carpets, wood floors and pet hair.
Jabra Elite 85h headphones: Jabra’s privacy policy states that the company does not sell personal information. Though it may share some personal information with third parties, those third parties may not process data for their own purposes.The Jabra Elite 85h wireless headphones feature multiple microphones for calls, noise canceling, smart assistant integration and 36-hour battery life.
Sonos SL Speakers: These are the “dumb” line of speakers from Sonos in that they don’t have microphones. Your recipient can control them with the Sonos app or Apple Airplay to stream music. According to its privacy policy, Sonos does not sell private information.This Sonos One SL bundle has two speakers to fill multiple rooms with tunes. Stream sound directly from an iPhone or iPad and ask Siri to play Apple Music.
You may also like: The best gifts for the person who doesn’t want or need anything We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.
