The popular playthings, marketed by Genesis Toys, are bundled with a mobile application that, once downloaded to a smartphone, “provides the data processing” to enable the toy’s ability to capture and understand whatever the child says. Along the way, the app accesses most of the phone’s functions, including many that are irrelevant to the toy’s operations such as contact lists and the camera. The app establishes a Bluetooth connection that links the toy to the internet, and it records and uploads conversations as the toy actively engages the child in discussion. One doll targeted in the complaint systematically prompts children to submit a range of personal information, including where they live.

Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Cap…, loc. 828