SUMMARY:
A new line of Barbie dolls just came out that is titled "Hello", these dolls are able to hear what a child says to it and then respond with an appropriate response. They use servers that record the child's voice, then analyze it to see what the child is saying. After that the doll says a message that correlates with the conversation. This technology is very similar to that of Siri in our smartphones. Now this doll and its technology is clearly very controversial, because the company owning the dolls now has recordings of whatever your child has said to their product. This situation could become very sticky like if or when a child could confide in the doll about trouble in their life, like abuse or other problems. What does the company do with that information? Do they report it to the cops on the whim that the child wasn't just playing pretend? Or do they run the risk that the child could be in actual danger?
ANALYSIS:
I honestly have no idea what to do or even why would be the right thing to do with this information. By reporting it to the cops, you could be creating a mountain out of mole hill or you could be savior g a life. It all depends on the case. Luckily the doll has a built in response so that when a controversial topic comes up, it suggests that they should go talk to a grownup about it. Even with this problems could arise. Whichever way you go there will be problems that arise. Really why did these dolls even have to incorporate this technology, why can't kids just play with normal dolls? Goodness gracious.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/04/opinions/linn-hello-barbie-privacy/index.html
Technology these days is getting out of hand. I completely agree that there was no need in the first place to innovate these dolls to such a realistic state. I think the whole creation of the doll was to get kids to use their imagination and creativity, now that the doll itself has a voice, it kind of takes away from the idea of kids getting to create and imagine what it would say. -Sophie Kurzius (8)
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