Talking Dolls A.K.A.SPY DOLLS? A Doll That Could Put Kids And Parents Information At Risk?

By Carl Anthony - 09 Dec '16 05:33AM

The popular My Friend Cayla doll is accused to be secretly recording kids conversations and as well as collecting personal information which could put kids at risk. Genesis Toys and speech recognition software manufacturer Nuance Communications have been cited for using the dolls to record conversations, and sends the toy's application and forwarded to Nuance's servers.

On Tuesday, a complaint was filed with the US Federal Trade Commission alleges that the maker of "smart" kids toys - the My Friend Cayla doll and the i-Que Intelligent Robot, Genesis Toys, and Nuance Communications are said to be violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, which obliged websites to get parental permission before making any use of data provided by children younger than 13. The said complaint was filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Meanwhile, Sen. Edward Markey, sent letters to both companies quoting, "Given the sensitive nature of children's recorded speech, I believe that Genesis Toys and Nuance must take responsible steps to protect children's privacy and comply with ... COPPA." Not only that, Nuance also has other services like the Nuance Identifier, a voice-recognition tool that is sold to military, Intelligence and law enforcement agencies that enable them to match up people's voices using their database of over 30 million voiceprints.

Actually, this is not the first toy that is cited for privacy violators. Last year, a Mattel's $75 Hello Barbie, could let hackers locate the doll owner's home address. And not only that, earlier this year, some researchers had found out that the Fisher-Price Smart Toy, a little teddy bear that can record conversations with children, could disclose children's and parents' information.

Richard Mack, a spokesman for Nuance, posted in a blog Tuesday quoting, "Our policy is that we don't use or sell voice data for marketing or advertising purposes. Nuance does not share voice data collected from or on behalf of any of our customers with any of our other customers."

It was reported that the coalition has also filed charges with consumer watchdogs for the European Union, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Norway. On the other hand, Genesis Toys haven't yet replied to a request for comment on the allegations.