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Chatroulette is the site everybody’s writing about. It’s a random video chatroom, where you can use your webcam to hold a verbal or written dialogue with total strangers connected to the same site. What happens in practice is that your image shows up in a window on your screen, and above it is one with an unknown person. If you don’t like the look of him or her and you don’t want a dialogue with them, all you have to do is click on the “next” button and a new one will show up. Chatroulette is the Russian roulette version of the webchat. It actually was a young Russian, a 17-year old geek, who had the bright idea of letting anyone meet new people completely at random. Among the stars attracted by this new form of chat, Ashton Kutcher (remember, he’s already a big Twitter fan) has taken the plunge, along with Jessica Alba, Katy Perry and of course Paris Hilton. With a bit of luck (about as much as it takes to win the lottery) you could find yourself chatting with a celeb.
Chatroulette
Updated : Monday 29 March 2010
On the traditional social networking sites, people connect and follow each other based on interests they have in common. Chatroulette does away with restrictions like that. Absolutely anyone can connect, any time, free, anonymously, and without having to register. You could meet anyone at all, and anything can happen – and often does. Chatroulette quickly attracted a following, especially among the 18-24 age group, most of them men. There is one woman for every ten men, poor things. It has also fast become a favourite forum for exhibitionists of all persuasions. You’re supposed to look into someone’s eyes to communicate, but there are plenty of people on Chatroulette exposing much more intimate but less articulate parts of their anatomy. The problem is that anyone – including our children – can visit the site. And, with the buzz doing the rounds of school classrooms, they are flocking to it. The legal small print on the site is worse than useless: access is theoretically prohibited to anyone under 16, and the site administrators threaten to block any pornographic images. It’s hardly reassuring. The authorities, well intentioned as ever, have been quick to react, so we’ll have to rely on them to put Chatroulette back on the straight and narrow. Meanwhile, a piece of advice if you’re thinking of trying it out: don’t allow access to your webcam, that way you can see without being seen. Your honour will be saved.
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