The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has warned several online retailers to stop the unlawful sale of non-secured IoT devices, such as video doorbells, that are not compliant with FCC equipment authorization requirements.
According to a press release issued by the FCC in March, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks has sent letters to five online retailers, requesting them to provide details on specific steps that they are currently taking to identify and cease the sale of non-secured IoT devices. The letters sent to Amazon, Walmart, Sears, Temu, and Shein include an exhaustive list of questions specific to the retailer about their current practices to verify that the products sold on their website comply with all applicable FCC regulations.
The letters sent by Starks to the five retailers reportedly follows recent reports in the Washington Post and Consumer Reports that the companies’ websites sell video doorbells that lack a visible FCC ID and that are easily hacked. The letters require that the companies respond to the FCC’s questions by not later than March 22nd. We’ll report on their responses in a future news item.
Read the FCC’s press release regarding its recent efforts to stem the sale of non-secured IoT devices.
