The FBI is warning that Mattel’s new Video Girl Barbie is a “possible child pornography production method.” Might they be overreacting just a little?
Yeah, okay, it is kind of creepy that Video Girl has a camera where her little plastic heart should be — and it’s especially scary when the FBI x-rays her to show her inner workings (insert TSA joke here). But is Barbie really going to cause child porn to soar? According to HuffPo, the FBI warning stems from a TechCrunch review in which Paul Carr goes off on the doll, calling it “child abuse waiting to happen” — because “pedophiles” could use the doll to record child porn and upload it to the Internet via Video Girl’s built-in USB port.
Carr also notes that the doll’s press release says, “unsuspected subjects won’t know that Barbie is watching their every move.” Which, okay, is kind of terrifying — but mostly in a Teddy Ruxpin, uncanny-valley sort of way. By Carr’s logic, pretty much any recording device is “child abuse waiting to happen.” Maybe Carr thinks Video Girl is especially dangerous because her camera functionality could be hidden, but girlfriend has a screen in her back, and the big hole in her chest is going to be a dead giveaway for most parents and any tech-savvy kid. Really, I think most child porn is made without the nefarious use of camera-dolls, and we’d probably be better off working against human trafficking than freaking out about Barbie.
Video Barbie Gets FBI Warning: ‘Possible Child Pornography Production Method’ [Huffington Post]
Cam Girl Barbie: Seriously Mattel, What Were You Thinking? [TechCrunch]
Image via Kiro TV