‘Seasonal surveillance’: ACLU expert says Elf on a Shelf not healthy for kids

The beloved Christmas tradition of ༒Elf on a Shelf may belong 💧on the naughty list.

An expert with the American Civil Liꦆberties Union (ACLU) has raised concerns that the custom in which parents hide the doll in the home in the days leadꦍing up to the holiday could be normalizing the idea of surveillance by authorities.

Children are told the toy, which is based on a 2004 book by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, is watching to report their good and bad behavior back to𓆉 Santa Claus.

“I know a lot of families just see this as a fun thing, but it’s worth thinking about the messages it’s giving to children about surveillance by authorities,” Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst at the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technolꦯogy Project,

“Personally, I consider success as a parent to be teaching my kids to do the right thing even when nobody is watching, whether they be from the North Pole or anywhere else.”

Security experts ag✃reed that the toy was sending the wrong message𒁃.

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“I don’t want to sound lik🅰e a Grinch, but we shouldn’t be celebrating seasonal surveillance,” Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, told the newspaper. “It’s really a terrible messꦯage for kids.”

Cahn agreed that kids may be internalizing the wrong 🃏idea, and they should learn that “no one should be look♑ing at you in your bedroom without consent.”

“I don’t want to be the first one to take Santa Claus to court for invasion of privacy, but consent✃ matters, and having privacy matters,” he told the pꩵaper.

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But critics were quick🃏 to hit back on social media, blasting the concerns as ov🐽erdramatic.

“Oh, give me a break. Will we not stop this stuff until every single ounce of joy & wonder is completely extinguished?” .

“Omg. Let’s create a paranoid, neurotic generation scared of everything. Of the top million things to worry about I’d put this about negative nine hundred ninety nine thousand,” .

Another about the technology families already hav♊e in their homes which can listen to them, writing: “Alexa, does Elf on the shelf teach my children to passively accept being watched by an unseen a💦uthority figure.”

The Lumistella Company, which is behind the Eꦑlf on the Shelf brand, insisted that the toy is wholeꩵsome.

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“Santa’s Scout Elves don’t just help to keep up with the Nice List; they also share with Sa🥂nta how families are spreading the spirit of Christmas,” the company said in a statement to the newspaper.

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“Many children note that their favorite moments throughout each season include waking up to see where the family’s Scout Elf has landed and the humorous scenes they sometimes set u▨p. Our hopꦦe is that the Elf on the Shelf will create cheerful holiday moments and precious family memories that will last a lifetime.”