WASHINGTON — Child advocates are raising the alarm over a new interactive Barbie doll that will record a child’s voice and upload the information to a cloud server where toy companies can “eavesdrop” upon the conversation and acquire more information about a child than many parents may want.

McClatchy is reporting on the new doll, manufactured by Mattel and expected to hit the marketplace in time for next Christmas, which uses Wifi to hold a two-way conversation with a child by “listening” to its words, transferring the info to the cloud, then responding appropriately.

For instance, in a demonstration of the doll’s ability, Barbie asks a saleswoman, “What’s your favorite part about the city [of New York]?” The saleswoman says, “Italian restaurants.” The doll then responds, “You have to take me to try it!”

Advocates with the non-profit Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood complain that Hello Barbie eavesdrops on children, exploiting private dialogues with dolls for profit.

“If I had a young child, I would be very concerned that my child’s intimate conversations with her doll were being recorded and analyzed,” Angela Campbell, faculty adviser to the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University law school, said in the group’s statement. http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/action/shut-down-hello-barbie

“In Mattel’s demo, Barbie asks many questions that would elicit a great deal of information about a child, her interests and her family,” Campbell said. “This information could be of great value to advertisers and be used to market unfairly to children.”

Mattel insists that the new doll conforms to government standards and protects children’s data from being accessed by “unauthorized users” but that isn’t satisfying children’s advocates.

Susan Linn, executive director of the Campaign thinks the doll is “creepy” and “dangerous”.

“Kids using ‘Hello Barbie’ aren’t only talking to a doll,” Linn pointed out. “They are talking directly to a toy conglomerate whose only interest in them is financial.”

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