http://pixelkin.org/2015/09/11/why-h...as-she-sounds/
What’s the Controversy About?
After Hello Barbie was announced and shown off at the New York Toy Fair, some advocacy groups objected to the whole idea of a doll that has conversations with kids and records them. Jacobs posted a statement on ToyTalk’s website to counter some of the misunderstandings about what Barbie could do and how the audio recordings would be used. He also covered some of those things at the Digital Kids Summit:
- Barbie is NOT always on. You have to press her belt buckle to start the conversation. She works sort of like a walkie-talkie.
- There is no geolocation ability in Barbie.
- Because of COPPA laws that protect the privacy of children under 13, apps that record kids have to comply with some pretty strict requirements. For instance, parental consent is required. To get parental consent, parents’ emails are collected. ToyTalk’s Legal FAQ for the Thomas the Tank Engine app says that “It is possible for children to provide additional personal information when they talk with our characters, and such information may be captured in these recordings. However, it is our policy to delete such information where we become aware of it and we contractually require our service providers to do the same.” ToyTalk also discloses that they send the recordings to the parents and they may use the recordings for research and development (to improve the product) but not for advertising to kids or contacting them. Parents can choose to permanently delete recordings.
- There is no real-time monitoring of conversations.
- Barbie doesn’t go out to the web to find information. She draws from a database in the cloud controlled by Mattel.
- There is no way for different Hello Barbies to share data with one another.
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us