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The FBI is warning law agencies that the new Barbie “Video Girl” doll could be used as a tool by pedophiles to make child pornography.
In an alert titled “Barbie ‘Video Girl’ a Possible Child Pornography Production Method,” the bureau said the doll has a built-in hidden camera in the chest and a small LCD screen for video display in her back.
The FBI cyber crime alert did not cite any misuse of the doll, but mentioned the possibility.
“FBI investigation has revealed instances where an individual convicted of distributing child pornography had given a Barbie doll to a 6-year-old girl,” the alert said.
The doll’s camera can record 30 minutes of footage, and the video can be downloaded and streamed live to a computer, but there is no indication it can be streamed directly to the Internet, according to the alert.
The notice was meant exclusively for law agencies, but someone at the FBI mistakenly sent it to media outlets in Seattle, said Steve Dupre of the FBI’s Sacramento, Calif., office, which distributed the notice.
“It was an inadvertent dissemination of the document,” he told CNN. “There have been no reported incidents of this doll being used as anything other than as intended.”
