By Andrea Barthelemy/DPA/Los Angeles


In the US, a new Barbie doll that talks, listens and reports back to the cloud is stirring fears of Big Brother in the playroom.
Kids in the US have been talking to Barbie dolls for generations. Now, privacy advocates are up in arms about a new Barbie that’s actually listening.
Mattel’s new “smart” doll, the microphone- and Wi-Fi-equipped Hello Barbie, went on sale yesterday in the US ahead of the year-end holiday shopping season.
The Los Angeles-based toy giant hopes the next-generation plastic puppet will help recapture market share lost in recent years to doll versions Disney blockbuster Frozen’s Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, among others.
But so far, the spotlight on Hello Barbie has brought the toy more notoriety than fame, including a Big Brother award from the German data protection advocacy group Digital Courage.
Privacy groups and concerned parents have been bashing what they call “eavesdropping Barbie” since Mattel presented the doll at the New York Toy Fair in February. An online petition against the “creepy” doll has garnered more than 37,000 signatures.
But tens of thousands have already pre-ordered the toy, which costs $75 on Mattel’s US website.
For a generation of children accustomed to their parents’ smartphones, Hello Barbie works in much the same way as the iPhone’s Siri voice-powered assistant.
A microphone embedded in the doll’s neck records incoming speech, then sends the audio via Wi-Fi to cloud servers for analysis. The programme selects contextually appropriate answers from among about 8,000 pre-programmed options.
User input is saved to the doll’s “memory” to refine future responses, which is in part what has privacy advocates worried.
Mattel says stored data are used only to improve user experience, not for promotional purposes, and are deleted from the server after two years. Parents must give consent for the recordings before the doll’s speech functions will work.
But critics are sceptical. Some cite Samsung’s microphone-equipped Smart TV, whose user agreement allowed the company to transcribe overheard living-room conversations, as an example of corporations unable to resist rifling through data collected by their “smart” products.
Hello Barbie is part of a wider trend toward more tech in the nursery, including other uses for natural speech technology.
The US startup Elemental Path has developed a line of speaking, learning mini-dinosaurs powered with IBM Watson artificial intelligence. A description for the startup’s Cognitoys brand calls them “smart toys that learn and grow with your child”.
In the US, lawyers with the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) are among those mobilising against the trend. They have launched a social media campaign under the slogan “Hell No Barbie”.
CCFC chief executive Josh Golin fears that children’s personal data could be shared and used for marketing purposes.
“It raises a whole host of privacy and security concerns,” he said in a television interview.
The San Francisco-based start-up Toy Talk developed and manages the Barbie- and child-appropriate speech technology for the doll.
But Hello Barbie is still far off from passing the so-called Turing test, in which a computer convinces a human listener it is human too.
In a demonstration at the Toy Fair, the tiny blonde bombshell gave an adult public relations rep advice on her career.
“Well, you told me you like being on stage, so maybe a dancer? Or a politician? Or how about a dancing politician?” the doll said. “I always say, anything is possible.”
Even if this smart toy isn’t actually that smart, children may not understand that it is not, in fact, their friend.
CCFC cited University of Wisconsin paediatrician Dipesh Navsaria in its petition against the doll, saying to blur the line between human and machine could be bad for children.
“Computer algorithms can’t replace - and should not displace - the nuanced responsiveness of caring people interacting with one another,” he said, according to CCFC.
Among other things, Hello Barbie can’t keep a secret. Far from a trusted playroom confidante, the doll is set up to become a spy for parents. Each child’s audio recordings is saved to a parent’s online account for safety reasons, the company said.
Mattel says Hello Barbie was developed in response to the wishes of girls from around the world, whose top request was to be able to have a conversation with Barbie.
Hello Barbie conforms to government standards and employs safeguards to protect children’s data from access by “unauthorised users,” according to Mattel.
“Mattel is committed to safety and security,” Stephanie Cota, senior vice president for global communications at Mattel, said recently.