Germany told parents to destroy this talking doll

In 2014, a talking doll named My Friend Cayla was voted Innovative Toy of the Year. Three years later the German government was telling parents to destroy it. Cayla listened to a child through a hidden microphone, beamed the audio over Bluetooth to a phone app, searched the internet for an answer, and spoke back after about a one-second delay.

The problem was the Bluetooth. Security researchers found that anyone within about 33 feet could connect to the doll's speaker and microphone and talk to the child directly. In February 2017 Germany's Federal Network Agency declared Cayla a "concealed espionage device" that violated the country's Telecommunications Act, and told owners they were obliged to destroy it. The FTC opened a similar privacy investigation in the United States.

Cayla now sits in Sweden's Museum of Failure and in the Spy Museum Berlin - the first toy in its collection of surveillance gear, donated by a mother who found it in her daughter's room.

Previously:

• Germans warned to DESTROY Cayla, network-connected doll that spies on children

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