Chatroulette: a risky bet?
Spencer Pyke, Copy Editor
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Technology
Where can you find Jessica Alba, people in China and a man having a good time with a stuffed raccoon all in the same place? The answer is Chatroulette, the newest internet social media craze where users can connect to random people all over the world via webcam.
The site allows users to "next" the people that you do not want to chat with and is a combination of audio, text and visual communication. It is not covered in ads or pictures; it has just two screens, a text box and two buttons, "play" and "next".
Chatroulette asks that users be 16 or older; however, this is a mere suggestion since there is no way for the site to know the users age as it does not ask for age verification.
The site was created by 17-year-old Moscow native Andrey Ternovskiy in November 2009. The idea stemmed from his over usage of Skype, according to an Associated Press article.
The negative aspect of this new internet sensation is the amount of people performing obscenities such as prejudice acts or nudity, which may worry parents. There is a link on the site to report an inappropriate user.
Many news sources have deemed the sight a "Pedophile's Paradise" as it is a gateway to many users in high school and even middle and elementary school.
"There is a lot of illegal activity on this site that is hard to enforce," President of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Ernie Allen said on CBS's The Early Show. "This is the last place parents want their kids to be," according to an article on cbsnews.com
University of California-Davis law professor, Anupam Chander, said that Chatroulette may be exempt from civil liability due to the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which does not hold internet services liable for the actions of third party users as they are not publishers, according to an article on foxnews.com
Senior Mike Schmidt said he is a fan of Chatroulette and has seen familiar faces when visiting.
"I've met some really interesting people from all over the world," Schmidt said. "I've even seen other LC students on it."
Junior Kelsey McCleary has also visited the site with friends, but said she doesn't like the obscene people and would never go on by herself.
"My friends visit the site and it can be interesting and fun; even saw the Jonas Brothers," McCleary said. "But I would never go on by myself and the people who do obscene things are awful."
The creator of the site told Fox News that people use the site for many different things, but he is completely against people using it for inappropriate reasons.
The site has gone from 20,000 users to 85,000 as more news articles have been covering the site, according to an article on wcsctv.com.
The site allows users to "next" the people that you do not want to chat with and is a combination of audio, text and visual communication. It is not covered in ads or pictures; it has just two screens, a text box and two buttons, "play" and "next".
Chatroulette asks that users be 16 or older; however, this is a mere suggestion since there is no way for the site to know the users age as it does not ask for age verification.
The site was created by 17-year-old Moscow native Andrey Ternovskiy in November 2009. The idea stemmed from his over usage of Skype, according to an Associated Press article.
The negative aspect of this new internet sensation is the amount of people performing obscenities such as prejudice acts or nudity, which may worry parents. There is a link on the site to report an inappropriate user.
Many news sources have deemed the sight a "Pedophile's Paradise" as it is a gateway to many users in high school and even middle and elementary school.
"There is a lot of illegal activity on this site that is hard to enforce," President of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Ernie Allen said on CBS's The Early Show. "This is the last place parents want their kids to be," according to an article on cbsnews.com
University of California-Davis law professor, Anupam Chander, said that Chatroulette may be exempt from civil liability due to the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which does not hold internet services liable for the actions of third party users as they are not publishers, according to an article on foxnews.com
Senior Mike Schmidt said he is a fan of Chatroulette and has seen familiar faces when visiting.
"I've met some really interesting people from all over the world," Schmidt said. "I've even seen other LC students on it."
Junior Kelsey McCleary has also visited the site with friends, but said she doesn't like the obscene people and would never go on by herself.
"My friends visit the site and it can be interesting and fun; even saw the Jonas Brothers," McCleary said. "But I would never go on by myself and the people who do obscene things are awful."
The creator of the site told Fox News that people use the site for many different things, but he is completely against people using it for inappropriate reasons.
The site has gone from 20,000 users to 85,000 as more news articles have been covering the site, according to an article on wcsctv.com.
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