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title: Five Best Ideas: Don&#x27;t Buy Your Kids Internet-Connected Toys
description: Don’t buy your kids internet-connected toys, the morality of leaks has changed and more.
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article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:01.965Z
article:section: Ideas
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# Don't Buy Your Kids Internet-Connected Toys

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by 

[The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/)


## The Aspen Institute


Feb 28, 2017 5:00 PM UTC

by 

[The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/)


## The Aspen Institute


Feb 28, 2017 5:00 PM UTC

**1\.** [**Don’t buy your kids internet-connected toys.**](https://qz.com/920482/dont-buy-your-kids-internet-connected-toys/)

By Mike Murphy in _Quartz_

**2\.** [**While the laws on leaking secrets haven’t changed, the moral calculus around them has.**](http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/02/28/some-leaks-are-necessary-flynn-fbi-russia-gabriel-schoenfeld-column/98453310/)

By Gabriel Schoenfeld in _USA Today_

**3\.** [**Populism might be surging around the world, but don’t write off the European Union.**](http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=68118)

By Judy Dempsey at _Carnegie Europe_

**4\.** [**On the edge of drought-stricken desert, this technology pulls drinking water from fog.**](https://www.fastcoexist.com/3068531/these-massive-floating-nets-capture-fog-and-turn-it-into-drinking-water)

By Eillie Anzilotti in _Fast Co.Exist_

**5\.** [**It’s been 45 years since we last went to the moon. Here’s how to get back — for good.**](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/how-to-get-back-to-the-moon-in-4-years-this-time-to-stay/)

By Howard Bloom in _Scientific American_

![The Aspen Institute logo next to text: “The Five Best Ideas Today is produced jointly by TIME and The Aspen Ideas Institute”](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf784fa5d1d2a824e/69869105f983e74bc304dfdf/aspen6.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp)

[_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._

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