Authorities Tell Parents To Destroy Illegal Spying Doll
German authorities have recently asked parents in the country to destroy the My Friend Cayla doll if their children have it.
This is because the doll is said to contain an internal microphone that could be used to spy on and listen to the child and their family.
The doll has the ability to connect to the internet via Bluetooth technology and it can respond to a request from the child with the internal microphone. German authorities say that this is in violation of the nation's privacy laws.
And this isn't the only doll to come under fire over surveillance worries either. There are other dolls out there too that have equally caused an uproar, like the Mattel wi-fi enabled barbie known as Hello Barbie that can listen to and talk back to children.
Security researchers have already warned the public about the possibility that hackers could steal their own personal information and use microphones on different doll toys that their children have.
A number of big players have already been fined over spying toys.
Big toy companies like Viacom, Mattel, Hasbro, and JumpStart, have all come under criticism for their actions to collect the personal information of their customers, and using it to track children online who purchase their toys. The tracking technology on their sites was said to violate the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. And they've had to collectively pay back $850,000+ in fines over the matter.
Consumer watchdogs have already sounded the alarm on a number of these toys, bringing attention to worrisome items that allegedly upload recordings of children/their customers to voice technology companies; with clients like law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies.
Parents need to be cautious about what toys their children might be using, which might be deceptively and unfairly collecting, using, and possibly disclosing their personal information as well as that of their child.
A spokesman for the Germany telecoms regulator, has said that they expect that people in the country will act as lawful citizens in destroying the functionality of the doll, because it is currently illegal to own the device with its controversial listening/spying capabilities.
Pics:
techspot
mattel
Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/17/technology/germany-doll-my-friend-cayla/index.html
http://fortune.com/2017/02/20/germany-cayla-doll-privacy-surveillance/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/26/hackers-can-hijack-wi-fi-hello-barbie-to-spy-on-your-children
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3787859/NY-settles-4-companies-stop-tracking-children-online.html
http://eyeopenertv.com/2016/12/08/these-dolls-are-spying-on-your-kids-consumer-groups-say/
Thanks for sharing
The necklace on the spy doll, My Friend Cayla is the familiar heart within a heart symbol that is in the FBI pedophile symbols list.
i.ytimg.com/vi/enfM4d1pD8A/maxresdefault.jpg
that sure is interesting now that you point that out! ...what a very creepy coincidence... !
Excellent info. Thank you for sharing.
I remember the talking Angela doll, freaky stuff some of the scariest horror movies have dolls in them :(
Microphones which upload conversations to the Internet. What is next, cameras in dolls too?
That's creepy. I fear more and more toys are going to lure youngsters online for immoral reasons. As a parent, I have to really look at what my boys play with and decide what they might learn from it. Our baby has a toy TV remote that sings things like "So many channels, so little time" - indicating that being a vegetable in front of a TV is okay for children.
Sounds like an episode from the American TV series CSI Cyber.
Grwat post ! Thanks for shareing ! 👍