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Hello Barbie : The Creepy Doll That Spies on Kids … and their Parents
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Mattel’s latest doll Hello Barbie dialogs with children, records their answers and sends the information back to a database via Wifi and Bluetooth.
Hello Barbie is “the world’s first interactive Barbie doll” … and it is rather creepy. Equipped with a microphone and internet connectivity, the doll asks questions to children, records their answers and send the information back to Mattel servers where it is filed and processed by a powerful algorithm.
Hello Barbie works by recording a child’s voice with an embedded microphone that is triggered by pressing a button on the doll. As the doll “listens,” audio recordings travel over the Web to a server where the snippets of speech are recognized and processed. That information is used to help form Hello Barbie’s responses.
– Washington Post, Privacy advocates try to keep ‘creepy,’ ‘eavesdropping’ Hello Barbie from hitting shelves
At the New York toy fair, Mattel representatives demonstrated Hello Barbie’s capabilities.
At the demonstration at the New York toy fair, the Mattel representative chatting with Hello Barbie mentioned that she liked being onstage. Later in the conversation, when the Mattel representative asked Hello Barbie what she should be when she grew up, the doll responded, “Well, you told me you like being onstage. So maybe a dancer? Or a politician? Or how about a dancing politician?”
– Ibid.
A quick review of the privacy policy of ToyTalk (the subdivision that handles Hello Barbie), reveals that the information recorded could be used for a variety of reasons.
We may use, transcribe and store such Recordings to provide and maintain the Service, to develop, test or improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, and for other research and development or internal purposes. We may make such Recordings available to the parent account holder and permit the parent account holder to share such Recordings with third parties. These Recordings may contain additional personal information if such information is provided in the Recordings, but we do not use personal information contained in Recordings to try to contact anyone. Please see “What Information Do We Share With Third Parties?” for information on how this information is shared with third parties.
How Do We Use the Personal Information We Collect?
We use personal information collected through our Service for the purposes described in this Policy or elsewhere on the Service. For example, we may use personal information we collect:
- to obtain parental consent and create a parent account;
- to provide and maintain the Service and to process and complete any transactions in connection therewith;
- respond to your communications and requests, provide customer service, request feedback, and otherwise contact you about your use of the Service;
- to monitor and analyze usage and trends and demographic information, and to personalize and improve the Service, our technology and our users’ experiences;
- to provide you with news and information about our events, activities, offers, promotions, products, and services we think will be of interest to you (with your consent where prior consent is required by applicable law);
- to send you confirmations, updates, product announcements, security alerts, and support and administrative messages and otherwise facilitate your use of, and our administration and operation of, the Service;
- to notify you about important changes to our Service and our terms and policies;
- to develop, test or improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms and for other research and development or data analysis purposes; and
- for any other purpose for which the information was collected, as identified at the time of collection.
We may store and process personal information in the United States and other countries.
What Information Do We Share With Third Parties?
Source: http://truthisscary.com/2015/03/hello-barbie-the-creepy-doll-that-spies-on-kids-and-their-parents/
The solution is fairly simple but it is technical. The doll requires an internet connection to function. That is a WiFi connection to the home wireless router. The solutiuon: Don’t let the doll connect to the home wireless router.
Allow the doll connect to the home network wireless router ONCE, under parental control. A parent can then log into the router control software with a home browser. It’s usually at 192.168.1.1 (or sometimes 191.168.0.1 or similar) on your wireless LAN. Examine connected devices and determine which MAC address is the doll. Then navigate to the MAC filter screen and disable that MAC address from ever connecting again. Done.
Of course, that won’t work if a close neighbor has an open and unprotected wireless router. Most don’t these days.
Just don’t buy the damn doll. Especially if you have a gun in your home.
Yeah, and all the clueless parents will be buying them up. Yay. Why don’t they just come out with a serial killer, ISIS, mass murderer, prostitute, crackhead, shop-a-holic, anorexic, morbidly obese, cult member, alcholic, ganja, transgender, satan-worshipper, compulsive gambler, unfit mother, welfare fraud, tax evader, porn star, money-launderer, forget the kid in the car on a hot day, child trafficker, road rage, bi-polar, schizophrenic, menstruating with severe PMS, stricken with cancer, pelvic mesh wearing, catheter using, dumb down, or Jihad Barbie? I don’t think that plastic bitch is going to be telling her human playmates to be all sweet and innocent while giving blessings.