Thaindian News

December 7, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the premier investigatory American institution, has discharged a warning against the Barbie Video Girl (BVG), with the FBI expressing apprehensions that the video camera in it could be employed by the criminal pedophiles. The dread of the FBI is that the BVG could be utilized for the ownership and creation of kids’ pornography. The BVG has been manufactured by Mattell and had emerged in the marketplace earlier this year. It possesses the ability to record no less than 30 minutes of footage via a digital camera on its front. The images produced can be witnessed on the BVG doll itself or can be uploaded to a computer through a USB cable.

A spokesperson of the FBI has mentioned that there has been no proof so far that the BVG doll has been put in force in any lawbreaking way. This warning of the FBI, as per its spokesperson, was meant for consumption by its workforce. The caution had been emanated by the FBI’s field workplace in Sacramento in order to generate consciousness among its investigational officers about the untraditional fashions by which child pornography can be created. This is because the FBI, in the past, has had to tackle crimes of child abuse involving concealed cameras and ordinary Barbie dolls.

Mattell has remarked that its items are manufactured for kids with their welfare in mind. Many of the employees of Mattell are parents, who are aware of the significance of child wellbeing.

Nevertheless, a few months back, similar uneasiness had been elucidated by TechCrunch, whose commentator, Paul Carr, labeled the BVG alarmingly as scary and a means through which child exploitation can occur. Gullible kids will not realize that the BVG is noticing their moves. Nonetheless, the BVG has been a rather well-liked product this season, with some correspondents observing that it had been vended like hot cakes from the stores as well as online.