There are gifts that keep on giving and there are gifts that keep on giving… your data away to big corporations.
This holiday season, let’s try to avoid the second category.
We recently reviewed the trending gifts for 2025 on websites like Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and other popular e-commerce websites. And the results? The lists are packed with products that raise numerous privacy-related concerns.
If you’ve received any of the following gifts, you may want to return them for a more privacy-friendly alternative while the receipt is still warm.
Table of Contents
Return that ‘Install Anywhere’ Security Camera
More and more budget security cameras are flooding the market, often from brands you’ve never heard of but that somehow have 40,000 five-star reviews that read mostly the same. They advertise themselves as “easy to install anywhere,” with most pictures showing it in living rooms and kitchens.
Many of these devices have unclear data storage practices, sketchy Privacy Policies, and use apps that request far too many permissions. Plus, we’ve found that many are flat-out scams. We won’t name any names because we don’t want a lawsuit for Christmas, but if you get one this year you may want to Google “is *insert brand camera a scam?”
Return it for a Doorbell camera – We don’t love these either, but if you have to have a security camera, get one that goes outside and is from a reputable company that hasn’t had data breaches or major privacy issues.
Return that Ancestry Test (pre-used, please)
These have been around a while, but are still wildly popular gifts, despite the itty-bitty problem that they can permanently hand over your genetic information.
When you submit a saliva sample, you’re not just learning about your great-great-grandparents. You’re contributing highly sensitive biological data that may be:
- Stored indefinitely
- Shared in data centers overseas
- Used in ways that extend beyond the original test
Return for a physical journal – There are several journals on the market that you can give to your parents or grandparents that allow them to talk about their parents and grandparents. These journals ask specific questions like:
- What did your parents/grandparents do for a living?
- Do you have any funny stories about your grandparents?
- Where are all the places that you’ve lived?
Your kids’ kids will thank you 100 years from now when Disney owns the known universe and they don’t have to give their DNA to Mickey Mouse to create a clone army when they just want to know what their Great-Grandpa lived in Italy.
Return that “smart” device, fitness tracker, and toy
Fun fact: Smart devices are listening to you long before you say “Hey, Google” or “Hey, Elmo.” It’s not a coincidence that you received an ad for couches when sitting in your living room, talking about how you need a new couch. Smart devices are everywhere, too. Cars, children’s toys, fitness trackers, light bulbs, and even refrigerators are all capable of actively listening or gaining access to data on your phone.
Nissan and Kia even got in trouble a few years ago for having to put in their Privacy Policy that they may keep track of your sex life.
Return for regular devices – do you really need a refrigerator that connects to an app… that connects to your phone… that connects to your data? You can just open it to see if you have any milk left.
Smart Calendars
I know we just finished talking about smart devices, but digital calendars deserve their own slot this year.
One of the biggest privacy threats is convenience, and this is an excellent example of that. Yes, it’s convenient to have everyone’s personal calendar automatically updated to a smart family calendar, but calendars hold a BUNCH of sensitive information. Doctor’s appointments, birthdays (which many still use to influence passwords), and your routines are easily accessible on a calendar.
Allowing a smart calendar to connect to all of your devices and compile that information into one calendar is certainly a privacy risk.
Return for a regular calendar – It takes longer to read this sentence than to write a date down on a physical calendar. Just don’t store that calendar behind your desk for all of Google Meets to see.
Conclusion
The point isn’t to reject technology, convenience, or modern life and retreat into a candle-lit cabin with a rotary phone. It’s to recognize that some gifts quietly ask for far more than space under the tree. They ask for your habits, your routines, your conversations, your biology, and sometimes your kids’ data too.
If a gift requires an app, an account, microphone access, location tracking, or a Privacy Policy longer than War and Peace, it’s worth pausing before plugging it in. Convenience is nice. Control is nicer.
So while the return window is still open and the receipt is still warm, consider swapping data-hungry gadgets for something that doesn’t need Wi-Fi to function properly. Your future self and your personal information will thank you. And if nothing else, at least you won’t have to explain to your grandkids why a toy train, a fridge, and a calendar all know your medical history.
