Merry Christmas Pedophiles

She’s watching you.

Mattel has come out with a brand new accessory for Barbie just in time for Christmas this year. The big change? She has a built in camera with picture and video abilities. The new Barbie is causing major controversy, but not just with the consumers.

The FBI has put out a warning against Mattel’s new toy. They are worried it will encourage child pornography with the video and picture capturing options.

But, an FBI spokeswoman attended a news conference on the topic stated “there have been no reported incidents of this doll being used as anything other than as intended.”

Mattel’s new “Video Girl” Barbie. Photo courtesy of fast-autos.net

On the Mattel website, the toy description says, “girls can record and play back clips with this multi-tasking doll, which has a video camera built right in. Capture everything from a doll’s-eye-view, then watch it instantly or upload to your computer. There’s an LCD screen on Barbie doll’s back, and a camera lens hidden discreetly in her necklace. Talk about making movies in style!”

When Senior Anissa Gerlach heard about the doll she immediately responded with “What’s a little kid going to do with a camera in their Barbie? You’ll just get pictures of the floor!”

Gerlach also thinks that “parents could use the recording Barbies as nanny cameras,” and said “what a waste of technology!”

“I would be kind of creeped out,” said senior Patrick Jones. He feels like girl’s parents are unaware of everything that could potentially be result of this new product. “Do they even realize there’s a camera in her necklace that can take pictures and record video?”

Jones thinks the doll has good and bad points.

“It’s giving kids an early look into the technological future,” on the other hand, “older children or adults will do inappropriate things with the little kids.”

“In later stages (of life) kids will be more comfortable with the Internet and video chatting.”

Jones thinks Mattel’s next step will be dolls that are fully functional in ways such as walking, talking and live video streaming capabilities.

An internal view of "Video Girl" Barbie. Photo courtesy of gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com

Morgan Moses feels strongly about Mattel’s new creation.

She made it very clear that she would be angry if her 9-year-old sister received the Barbie with the built-in camera. “I don’t want her having Barbies [in general] because they’re degrading and she doesn’t need to be videoing herself. They (younger children) shouldn’t know how to video themselves.”

Moses, unaware of the FBI warnings recently made, is afraid of the “weapon” this supplies pedophiles with.

“Some guy could be sitting there with his daughter’s Barbie taping little kids. They’ll come up with anything.”

“It would be weird to have a child receive one of these dolls” and “there’s really no need to have a camera in a Barbie doll,” said Alanna Margoline.

Margoline said, “everything is becoming dependent on technology, even toys! What’s next? Cell phones for babies so they can text in the womb?”

Aside from consumers, the government is alerting police personnel as well, to ensure that items such as Barbies will not be overlooked when investigating a case. This is mainly because these electronic dolls could be holding crucial evidence inside their fake, plastic bodies.

But despite all the arguments and claims giving the doll a negative reputation, the manufacturers of the doll claim that “Mattel products are designed with children and their best interests in mind. Many of Mattel’s employees are parents themselves and we understand the importance of child safety – it is our number one priority.”

By Christa Charles and Cassie Funk