Sitting on a shelf in a store, Cayla looks like any other ordinary doll. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and wears a smile at all times. The role of this doll, like many others, is to serve as a child's companion. Except Cayla is not just any doll. Once Cayla is connected it allows parents to listen n on their children via Bluetooth microphone and a corresponding app. But this brings ongoing issues. Parents might not be the only ones with easy access to those conversations. The toy's vulnerabilities were first exposed in 2015 when a security researcher from Pen Test Partners hacked the doll. Researchers found that a phone with the corresponding app could access a Cayla doll at 60 feet.
This is why Cayla has been designated as a spy by the Federal Network Agency, a German telecommunication watchdog. The "forbidden" toy is banned and can no longer be sold in stores, purchased or even owned. Those who owned a Cayla doll within their homes have been ordered to destroy them and get an official certificate saying that they did so. Parents who do not destroy this toy could face a fine as much as $26,500 and two years in prison.
Kids will always be the main demographic that companies aim their "newest and hottest" products towards. And it also isn't uncommon for those companies to try to incorporate digital advances within those toys, but it's important for parents to dig deep into how these products are being manufactured. Sometimes parents don't realize how dangerous one of their child's "innocent" toys can be until its too late.
