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Nothing generates column inches better than a good old scare story, and with the DSi some sectors of society are having a field day.

Take Arkansas police from the good old US of A, for example. Sergeant Adam Holland (who has the rather unenviable task of investigating internet crimes against children) has a bee in his bonnet over the new console’s internet access capability and the built-in cameras it possesses, and claims that these elements mean that children might be at risk.

Here’s a choice quite from Holland himself:

Now not only can the children be contacted, but they can be asked to provide pictures [and] video.

It’s not all negative, though. Holland is quick to point out that the DSi does showcase some parental features:

If the only website you want your kids to go to is YouTube, you go into the parental lockout feature, put in YouTube's URL, and that's the only website your kids will be able to go to.

It’s easy to laugh this story off as mere scandal, but Holland’s report does hold some weight. We’ve already seen scare stories of disturbed people grooming others via Microsoft’s Xbox Live, and given the large number of children that use DS consoles, if someone wanted to entrap a youngster fairly easily then all they need do is walk into their local videogame store and pick up a DSi.

Well, they could do that, if the bloody things were in stock anywhere.

[source kotaku.com]