Joanne McNally is back on the investigative trail…. and with the Avril / Melissa theory no longer giving her sleepless nights, she’s keen to find a new story to get her teeth into.
Top of her list, after some deliberation is a story from the late 90’s… about a soft toy, the Furby, which took over the world and became the no.1 gift for Christmas. But Joanne has found headlines that claim the toy was banned, suspected of being a spy, linked to international espionage… there couldn’t be any truth to it… could there?
Joanne McNally is back on the investigative trail…. and with the Avril / Melissa theory no longer giving her sleepless nights, she’s keen to find a new story to get her teeth into.
Top of her list, after some deliberation is a story from the late 90’s… about a soft toy, the Furby, which took over the world and became the no.1 gift for Christmas. But Joanne has found headlines that claim the toy was banned, suspected of being a spy, linked to international espionage… there couldn’t be any truth to it… could there?
Determined to get to the bottom of the rumours once and for all, Joanne lines up a meeting with one of the marketing brains behind the toy. She learns that the scandals which rocked Furby in 1998 did wonders for it's sales... and she wonders if it's still popular today because of the mystery around it.
Joanne also journeys to a toy shop, to do some hands-on research. And she finds out that the Furby is so coveted that it's kept inside a sealed glass container.
We also hear from an expert who explains why smart toys, and other smart devices, need to be treated with caution... and she meets an ethical hacker who was able to prove that some smart toys have been able to be hacked, and manipulated.
Joanne then hears some real stories of accidental espionage from her gaggle of followers. And she meets Jamie - a woman with a terrifying story of what can happen when your smart tech is infiltrated by strangers...