The company has already launched a FAQ on its website claiming that the questions are used “to optimise the app’s content”, for example, using the users’ age to dictate suitable topics of conversation. This information might not be transmitted to a “paedo ring”, but it’s a fair question to ask what is happening to it. Some of the concerns about Talking Angela have been around the questions she asks: the user’s name, age, what they like doing at school, and so on. “We have no communication to our servers: the brains of the engine are in the mobile app, and everything that the engine responds is pre-scripted.” Sidhu chipped in: “We’ve got some incredibly sophisticated technology based on a lot of work, but it’s actually just programmed intelligence.” “Even though it could be easily believed that you are talking to a person, if you pay some attention, everybody can easily find out that it’s not a person on the other side: it’s only a semi-intelligent conversation that you’re having,” he said. It’s ridiculous,” he said, before suggesting that if parents use the app themselves for even a short period of time, they’ll feel reassured that Angela really is a virtual cat with a chat-bot handling conversational duties. Can you imagine, we’d need an army of paedophiles. “We have millions of users every day using this app. These things just happen,” said Login, pointing out that the hacker/webcam claims run into trouble when you consider that Talking Angela has been downloaded 57m times so far. I don’t know how it got started or how it got traction. Starting with some of those claims on Facebook.
Tai my talking tom hack series#
The app is the work of Outfit7, part of its Talking Tom and Friends series that currently has more than 230 million monthly active users, after 1.5bn app downloads since the first app was released in June 2010.Ĭhief executive Samo Login and senior brand director Randeep Sidhu talked to the Guardian to give their view on the hoax, as well as on other criticism of Talking Angela’s suitability for children. And yet judging by the more than 700,000 page views so far for my article this week examining what Talking Angela is really saying to kids – parents around the world have been spooked by the warnings. No, there isn’t a “paedo ring” that can get access to children’s friend lists.
No, it’s not a hacker sitting behind a webcam. “THEY CAN SEE YOUR CHILD AND HACK IN TO THEIR PICS AND THEIR FRIENDS LIST…”
“CHECK YOUR KID’S TABLET OR PHONES TO SEE IF THEY HAVE THIS APP ITS A PEDO RING,” shouted another.
‘Angela’ asks you very personal and perverted questions,” claimed one widely circulated warning. It is a hacker that is sitting behind a webcam, able to see you but you can’t see him.
0 kommentar(er)
