If you still have a Twitter account, this is delightful: someone FOIAed the late-90s panic about sound-recording Furby toys at the NSA — which I dimly remember at the time as part of the associated Furby moral panic / security zeitgeist, and that we have seen repeatedly since, in part amplified by (2016) IoT and (2023) AI.

It’s almost as if security concerns are invariant over time; and I wonder if the NSA bans parrots from visiting the site?

• https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/news/a41768/toys-record-kids-talking/
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/wnx5vw/internet-connected-fisher-price-teddy-bear-left-kids-identities-exposed
• https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/trouble-in-toyland-2023/
• https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2023/11/17/toys-that-spy-on-children-growing-concern-report/71609172007/