Barbie (Photo : REUTERS/ PAWEL KOPCZYNSKI)
Hello Barbie, the world's first Interactive doll, is under fire due to privacy concerns raised by parents, critics, privacy advocates, and concerned children advocates due to its capabilities of being connected to the internet and record intimate conversations.
Mattel together with Toytalk launched their latest Barbie doll at New York Toy Fair. Hello Barbie is an advanced upgrade from the classic iconic plastic doll, now packed with high-tech features that allow the doll to listen and talk to children.
As engaging and attractive this new doll may be for kids, the advanced feature did not received good feedback as it raised privacy concerns.
Concerns that urge the toy factory to stop the doll's production quickly escalated upon the reveal that the children's intimate conversations with the new doll will be uploaded over the internet.
Groups like the group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood have claimed that the talking doll is an invasion of children's privacy, Metro reported.
This is due to the doll's talking feature may be prompt into asking the child about private information such as questions about her interests and family.
With a built-in microphone and Wifi connection, the new Barbie is equipped with a voice recognition feature which is very similar to what Apple's Siri and Google Now use. The doll records and transmits these conversations to Toytalk's cloud server.
A Toytalk spokesperson explains that these stored conversations will only be used to improve the doll's performance. It will help develop better speech recognition as it analyzes different language and speech patterns from various children.
Hello Barbie will be released on different toy stores this fall, according to Geek.
