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iconsfinder · 2 years ago

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barbielore · 1 year ago

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Hello Barbie and the Hello Dreamhouse were releases by Mattel to try to keep up with modern technology. In the age of Siri and Alexa, the Hello Barbie and Hello Dreamhouse were voice-activated Barbie toys.

However, much like Video Girl Barbie before her, when Hello Barbie hit the market, she raised a lot of concerns about privacy.

Hello Barbie essentially used the same mechanics as any other voice activated digital assistant - with the help of a WiFi connection, you could talk to Barbie and she could talk back. However a number of security concerns were raised about this, ranging from ToyTalk's privacy policy outright saying it keeps the data and shares this with third parties, to the possibility that a hacker could at best make Barbie say something rude or at worst, use this data to obtain personal information about other people's children.

The company offered a bounty to anyone who could help them identify potential weaknesses in the Barbie... but at the end of the day, perhaps the Barbie was more trouble than she was worth. Kids don't need a Barbie doll with an internet connection. (Does that make me sound like a curmudgeon?)

The Hello Dreamhouse didn't talk back (obviously, it's a house) but was theoretically supposed to respond to voice commands to emulate a smart home. The doors could open by voice command, the chandelier disco ball could spin and light up in different colours, and so on.

However after the privacy concerns and a lot of bugs and glitches, the Dreamhouse was discontinued along with Hello Barbie.

You know what stands out to me about that, though? Once they were discontinued, existing Hello Barbies and Hello Dreamhouses no longer worked, as the app was no longer supported.