The “My Friend Cayla" doll gives anyone with a Bluetooth-enabled phone access to your child — and consumer groups want the federal government to pull the popular toy from store shelves.
Using an app, parents can have entire conversations with their children through the doll — but so could strangers.
That's why some people say the doll could open the door for a child predator. Privacy concerns led Germany to ban the sale of the doll, which is made in the United States.
An attorney filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission to pull the doll from shelves in the United States.
“If the doll is turned on, [anyone] can see that the doll (is) available and could pair with it on their phone using Bluetooth,” said attorney Chris Laughlin, who filed the complaint.
An investigation by WJAX-TV found that anyone within 90 feet of the doll can easily access it with Bluetooth. You can say anything — and it'll come out through the speaker.
Strangers can have a two-way conversation with your kid — and all they will need is a phones.
Robin Luaway is among those who are concerned about the doll.
“We should go back to how it was,” Luaway said. “Play outside."
Cayla’s terms of service warns that it cannot guarantee that the Cayla app will be free of content that you might consider unacceptable. The company says its safeguards do not replace parental supervision.
But when you read Cayla’s terms of service on its website, it clearly says that they “will use information collected about you for a variety of business purposes."
The FTC has not yet responded to the attorney's complaint.
WJAX-TV reached out to Cayla's software company for a comment on the allegations in the FTC complaint, but the company has not responded.
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