Image: YouTube
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Bogus privacy scare chain letters concerning the app first made the rounds a full year ago, but in the past couple of weeks the concern has been reignited and spread like wildfire, even crossing the language barrier from English to French. I asked Samo Login, CEO of Outfit7, how he thought it happened. “I think that it happened the same way as every viral activity; you can’t predict it,” said Login. “I don’t think we could really affect it in a great way. If we could, I’m sure we would have a lot of viral activities.”“If we could bottle it and sell it, I think we’d be making a lot of money: How to make things viral,” added Senior Brand Director Randeep Sidhu. In some ways, he said, the improved quality of the app might have exacerbated the rumours. As the app has become more advanced and “intelligent” over the past year, the idea that a human must be behind Angela’s interactions got more traction.FYI if you download Talking Angela you are a complete idiot pic.twitter.com/kfTtwzgUdj
— Bridgette Lynn (@BridgeyKing_) February 24, 2014
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When I played with the app (the developers insist it’s not just for kids), Angela talked about her passion for accessories and hat design. “I love to design and accessorise my outfits,” she said in the kind of disjointed robo-voice you get from digital scripts. “I customize them with some neat tricks like tying decorative knots.”She initiated a conversation on fascinators, but seemed to forget what they were when I asked her more about them. When I stroked her ears, she called me a cutie, and that’s about as intimate as we got. Even when I annoyed her by poking her off her chair, she didn’t reveal herself to be anything more malevolent than a mildly disgruntled cartoon character.Beyond sending out an official statement and directing queries to their FAQ page, the developers admitted there was little they could do to combat the rumours. Once something’s viral, it’s hard to rein it in. Login said he was pleased to talk to journalists, “so people will understand why Angela feels so real and understand why Angela is safe. Because everything that Angela discusses, everything that she answers, comes from the script.”See talking Angela is ha hidden perv DO NOT GET GAME! pic.twitter.com/zWGKIHgQ1A
— Ethan F (@ethan_hackett) February 26, 2014
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In their statement, they mentioned the app's child mode feature. This disables the chat bot function completely and only lets you interact with Angela in the same way as their earlier Talking Tom app; you can (platonically) stroke and poke her, and she repeats what you say but doesn’t bring anything new to the conversation.Login explained they developed child mode because the chat bot functionality was too difficult for younger kids to use than for any inappropriate content, and added that even if you were over 18, Angela wouldn’t touch on any particularly adult subjects. “We would never want to have something like that in our apps," he said.See talking Angela is ha hidden perv DO NOT GET GAME! pic.twitter.com/zWGKIHgQ1A
— Ethan F (@ethan_hackett) February 26, 2014
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