• Mom, My Barbie Needs A Better Firewall
    18 replies, posted
[url]https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151130/12190132946/mom-my-barbie-needs-better-firewall.shtml[/url] [quote=Techdirt]Earlier this year, we noted that Barbie had received a face lift for the internet of things age. Hello Barbie is able to take commands from your kids, but also connects to your home Wi-Fi network to shovel your children's conversations to the cloud -- purportedly to improve Barbie's voice recognition technology. At the time, groups like the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood complained that monetizing the ramblings of toddlers was a line that shouldn't be crossed, given that kids would no longer be talking to a doll, they'd be "talking directly to a toy conglomerate whose only interest in them is financial." But beyond the ethical implications of marketing to kids is the more pressing lack of security and privacy standards apparent in most IOT devices. As hacked automobiles, tea kettles and refrigerators all perfectly illustrate, companies are so eager to cash in on the connected age that they "forget" about securing the end user. And now, as the Vtech hack recently illuminated, your kids' toys are no exception. Neither is Hello (I'm an NSA operative) Barbie.[/quote]
So finally we reached the point where kids toys now actually record what kids say to better market shit to them? That's kinda frightening.
There's a reason why people are just referring to IoT as the internet of shit. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to IoT-ify toys for children?
[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;49231731]There's a reason why people are just referring to IoT as the internet of shit. Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to IoT-ify toys for children?[/QUOTE] Honestly, we've had this kind of tech in kids toys for a while. Loads of dolls already did this shit. And it's more and more hilarious every time the manufacturer doesn't secure it.
I wonder what crazy things people can hack into in the future.
[QUOTE=Makzu;49231871]I wonder what crazy things people can hack into in the future.[/QUOTE] the matrix
[QUOTE=Makzu;49231871]I wonder what crazy things people can hack into in the future.[/QUOTE] Just you wait until people can directly hook their brains up to wifi to connect to the internet.
[QUOTE=Makzu;49231871]I wonder what crazy things people can hack into in the future.[/QUOTE] I want to be able to jack into things like Battle Network. Link to what "IoT" means for those not in-the-know (such as myself) [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things[/url]
so...they have litterally built mikes into barbies that record everything... then put in lousy security................. did anyone stop to think for a minute that they're building a telephone directly from an 8 year olds bed to anyone, and wonder if thats a good idea?
Internet of things? More like ARPANET of bullshit.
I can only imagine the poor engineer that had to listen to a suit say that this was a good idea
If an automobile manufacture and massively popular companies have problems securing their data there is absolutely no hope for low end products like this.
I wonder if in the 1500's people were going around trying to make the guttenberg press of things
[QUOTE=mooman1080;49231722]So finally we reached the point where kids toys now actually record what kids say to better market shit to them? That's kinda frightening.[/QUOTE] NSA Agent Barbie, coming to a toy store near you for the 2015 Holiday season! Tell us your pretty little lies.
I assume this only works on open WiFi networks, right? I can't imagine a Barbie doll having a place to entire a WiFi passcode anywhere.
The funniest part of this to me is how much IoT is looking like 4th edition Shadowrun, where everything has wifi and shit security, and buying/hijacking kid's toys to use as spydrones is a common trick.
This is like some Small Soldiers shit.
[QUOTE=Erfly;49232159]Just you wait until people can directly hook their brains up to wifi to connect to the internet.[/QUOTE] Oh boy, I can't wait to get my Psi-Fi infected with malware that Rick-Rolls me in my sleep!
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