Chat Roulette Puts Teens Face To Face With Strangers, Pornography - Boston News Story - WCVB Boston
I thought after our discussion in class about voyeurism on the internet, it was funny that my mom sent me a link to a story that she saw on the news the night before about ChatRoulette.
The site was created by a Russian high school student about four months ago and has become very popular among college kids. Some argue that it is just fun, but many people worry about the content that is on the site. Even though the site asks for an age verification it does not insure that you are actually above the age of 16.
I kind of related this website to that of many other social networking sites in that you can meet people randomly and if you really don't like them you can press the next button to see who comes up next. The scariest thing about this website is that many people use it for their own sick pleasures. Men pleasuring themselves via web cam is very popular. There is really no regulation for the site and even though these people could potentially be committing a sex crime they will rarely see punishment.
It is a sex crime when children are involved and this is where the biggest problem is. Like Ive talked about a few times, the law and the internet have not caught up with each other. I was interested to see if there was anyone out there who enjoys site like this or if anyone has had experience with ChatRoulette. Have you guys encountered explicit content via this website? Is this type of technology making it easier to snoop into others lives? Are people just interested in making friends or do sites like this turn into pornography?
Below is a video from rocketboom.com showing people how to use ChatRoulette.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Skype Tapping
As I learned in Media 321, the government has had such a difficult time keeping laws up to date with the ever changing world of the media. We all know that there are stringent rules for police when intercepting phone conversations but when it comes to the Internet the government has not kept up with the fast changes.
Terrorists, and other shady organizations are using the Internet as a safer communication space for their criminal behaviors. According to an article on MacWorld.com, Skype Calls' Immunity to Police Phone Tapping Threatened, the European law enforcement is attempting to gain access to the Skype network. "Police officers in Milan say organized crime, arms and drugs traffickers, and prostitution rings are turning to Skype and other systems of VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) telephony in order to frustrate investigators," as stated in the article.
http://www.macworld.com/article/138936/2009/02/skypeimmunity.html
One major issue that governments are having is actually gaining access to the VOIP networks. The old school days of putting a bug in a phone are long gone. In order to gain access to these networks much work must be done to actually figure out a way to get into them.
Eurojust is the organization dedicated to organizing and correlating this issue across all of the 27 countries that make up Europe. Below is the Eurojust website if anyone wants to know about their organization.
http://www.eurojust.europa.eu/
As technology increases when where the governments be able to keep up? Technology has changed so much, just within the last few decades, and the pace becomes faster and faster, and because of this governments across the world are having severe issues keeping up with the changes. Catching terrorists, drug dealers, and prostitution rings would be a great step preventing their next steps. Unfortunately, right now law makers can not keep up with the fast changing Internet. Personally, I find it disturbing that police are not even allowed to get a warrant to intercept criminal activities facilitated through VOIP networks. Then again, the ability to access them is difficult to figure out in the first place.
Terrorists, and other shady organizations are using the Internet as a safer communication space for their criminal behaviors. According to an article on MacWorld.com, Skype Calls' Immunity to Police Phone Tapping Threatened, the European law enforcement is attempting to gain access to the Skype network. "Police officers in Milan say organized crime, arms and drugs traffickers, and prostitution rings are turning to Skype and other systems of VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) telephony in order to frustrate investigators," as stated in the article.
http://www.macworld.com/article/138936/2009/02/skypeimmunity.html
One major issue that governments are having is actually gaining access to the VOIP networks. The old school days of putting a bug in a phone are long gone. In order to gain access to these networks much work must be done to actually figure out a way to get into them.
Eurojust is the organization dedicated to organizing and correlating this issue across all of the 27 countries that make up Europe. Below is the Eurojust website if anyone wants to know about their organization.
http://www.eurojust.europa.eu/
As technology increases when where the governments be able to keep up? Technology has changed so much, just within the last few decades, and the pace becomes faster and faster, and because of this governments across the world are having severe issues keeping up with the changes. Catching terrorists, drug dealers, and prostitution rings would be a great step preventing their next steps. Unfortunately, right now law makers can not keep up with the fast changing Internet. Personally, I find it disturbing that police are not even allowed to get a warrant to intercept criminal activities facilitated through VOIP networks. Then again, the ability to access them is difficult to figure out in the first place.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Self Diagnosis on the Internet
Since I have a few friends and family that use websites such as WebMd to self diagnosis problems they think they have. After reading an article Why You Shouldn't Try Self Diagnosis: Using the Internet to Determine Health Problems on "associatedcontent.com," I learned that attempting to determine ones own health problems can be more detrimental to people than we may consider it.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/197947/why_you_shouldnt_try_selfdiagnosis_pg2.html?cat=5
The article talks about how not all websites are run by board certified physicians, and therefore anyone could telling you that you have a headache when you could potentially have a neurological problem.
The article mentions that sometimes with self diagnosis with the Internet can lead to panic. Someone could be suffering from something as simple as a head cold but the Internet may tell them that they have something more severe which would cause a person to panic. This is something that could easily be avoided with a routine doctors visit.
Also, some websites may have the best intentions in mind but they are trying to push certain drugs. Pharmaceutical companies want their products promoted so even though their product may not be the best you may find yourself purchasing it with little improvement.
The website recommends that if you are going to self diagnosis yourself that you use the information along with a future doctors appointment. Even if the information could be legitimate, taking the further step of seeing a doctor is always the right thing to do. Self diagnosis should not replace a doctor.
Even though the Internet is a great tool for information it should not replace the traditional medical practices that have been around forever. Always remember that you never know who you are going to be getting your information from.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/197947/why_you_shouldnt_try_selfdiagnosis_pg2.html?cat=5
The article talks about how not all websites are run by board certified physicians, and therefore anyone could telling you that you have a headache when you could potentially have a neurological problem.
The article mentions that sometimes with self diagnosis with the Internet can lead to panic. Someone could be suffering from something as simple as a head cold but the Internet may tell them that they have something more severe which would cause a person to panic. This is something that could easily be avoided with a routine doctors visit.
Also, some websites may have the best intentions in mind but they are trying to push certain drugs. Pharmaceutical companies want their products promoted so even though their product may not be the best you may find yourself purchasing it with little improvement.
The website recommends that if you are going to self diagnosis yourself that you use the information along with a future doctors appointment. Even if the information could be legitimate, taking the further step of seeing a doctor is always the right thing to do. Self diagnosis should not replace a doctor.
Even though the Internet is a great tool for information it should not replace the traditional medical practices that have been around forever. Always remember that you never know who you are going to be getting your information from.
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