Russian roulette just went online, with a webcam chat site that's suddenly turning into a magnet for perverts
Russian roulette just went online, with a webcam chat site that's suddenly turning into a magnet for perverts
Remember the giddy high of making your first 'chat' friend, exchanging a/s/l (age/sex/location) followed by photos and then a clandestine meeting away from the eyes of disapproving parents? Chatroulette, a website that's been making waves (good and bad) since it hit the Internet a few months ago, reminds you a little bit of that. Except that webcams are mandatory, and the site is fast turning into a pervert and paedophile magnet.
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| The site has got its fair share of mileage through celebrities who claim to have tried it, including Hollywood star couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. PIC/u00a0AFP photo |
What is it?The website, created by 17 year-old Andrey Ternovskiy, a student in Moscow, randomly pairs strangers from around the world for webcam interaction. To start, click 'play', and your face appears in one of the boxes on the left; your partner's in the one below. Don't like what you see? Click 'next' to move on to another face. It's that simple and rules only stipulate that you be 16+, have a webcam, and wear 'clothes'. All set to get connected to any number of people between Tanzania to Thimphu?
What's the fuss?Ternovisky says he created the site for 'fun'; after hours of chatting with his friends on Skype led to boredom, he felt the need to connect with a larger set of random people. Today, the site that was set up with a few lines of code and a rudimentary base in his kiddie bedroom, boasts of one million users daily; most of them from the United States. Big surprise.u00a0
Of course, dirty business always follows the money and numbers, so it should come as little surprise that those innocent intentions are no longer the cornerstone of visitors to Chatroulette. Worried mothers who logged on to reassure themselves that their teenager's latest Internet addiction was not dangerous have come back horrified, chancing mostly on perverts who angle the camera directly at their genitals and waste no time in typing "show me your breasts."u00a0
To his credit, Ternovisky had no way of knowing his little idea would jettison him into the big league of child entrepreneurs who now have to contend with Internet pornography. He says as much, thanking relatives and 'fans' for helping out with cash to buy bandwidth, servers and answer his questions about the code that's now running into thousands of lines. And post the flurry of complaints and concerns about the site's misuse, he has posted a warning about banning "obscene, offending, pornographic material" and a 'report' button that can be used to tag someone who's being offensive. Three reports, and you are off the site. At least, for a while.
Celebrity quotientIt's not just the thrill of clandestine encounters of the broadband kind. The site has got its fair share of mileage through celebrities who claim to have tried it, from Tweet-happy couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher to Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. Which is another reason why a teen would be tempted to log on-- imagine the possibility of an encounter with a celebrity! Add to that, no annoying advertisements and pop-ups, and it' s like cherry on the cake. Pornography and exhibitionists be damned.
Today, the site that was set up with au00a0 a few lines of code and a rudimentary base in his kiddie bedroom boasts one million users daily, most of them from the United States. Big surprise.
