Chatroulette To Log IP Addresses, Take Screenshots

littlekorea writes "Chatroulette, the strangely addictive online game in which users are connected via webcam and microphone to random strangers at the click of a button, has had enough of users exposing themselves to the unsuspecting public, among other disgraces. The founder of Chatroulette has announced the company has hired developers to collect IP addresses and take screenshots of those users breaking the rules."

Comments

And Then What Will You Do With It?

[eldavojohn]

Chatroulette, the strangely addictive online game ...

So you're strangely addicted to staring at male genetalia? I think we all just learned a little something about littlekorea.

That is by far the most positive review of that web site I have ever encountered. Personally I've used the service precisely once. Discovering what happened during that usage is left as an exercise to the reader.

The founder of Chatroulette has announced the company has hired developers to collect IP addresses and take screenshots of those users breaking the rules.

And then what? Actually it sounds like they have already done this:

"We've captured and saved thousands of IP addresses of alleged offenders, along with logs and screenshots which prove wrong behaviour.

"We are initiating a conversation with enforcement agencies and we are willing to provide all the information we have."

Are they going to press charges? Do you think that site created by a lone developer has the legal resources to do that against that many offenders? Do you really think any law enforcement agency has the resources to investigate thousands of complaints with little more than a screenshot of someone's junk and their IP address? It's the internet. Your effort is futile. What ever happened to the recognition software? Has that already fallen through? Too many false positives? Light problems?

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[Chrisq]

Do you really think any law enforcement agency has the resources to investigate thousands of complaints with little more than a screenshot of someone's junk and their IP address?

Maybe if the IP address resolved to Whitehouse.gov. Don't you miss Bill Clinton?

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[drinkypoo]

Is it even illegal to expose yourself to a stranger over the internet? It might be a violation of the AUP/ToS, but that doesn't necessarily make it illegal. It's hard to prove theft of services when you aren't charging a fee and you don't have to apply even a digital signature to gain access to the site. IIRC all you really have to do is verify an email address. Unless you're displaying yourself to a child (even unknowingly is probably enough to get you in trouble) it seems likely to go nowhere.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you really think any law enforcement agency has the resources to investigate thousands of complaints with little more than a screenshot of someone's junk and their IP address?

Maybe if the IP address resolved to Whitehouse.gov. Don't you miss Bill Clinton?

Number of my countrymen to be killed or wounded while Clinton nailed a fat secretary: 0. Number of my countrymen to be killed or wounded from the two wars started and unfinished during Bush's administration: 5,589 and rising.

And which one did we try to impeach? Yeah, I kinda do miss Clinton.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[clone53421]

No, unless it is. For instance, if you’re displaying yourself to a child... and you’d probably have to be doing so knowingly, or at least without having taken any basic sort of steps to ensure that the person you’re talking to is over 18 (if they claim to be, that’s probably good enough unless it’s pretty obvious that they aren’t).

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[ZeroExistenZ]

So you're strangely addicted to staring at male genetalia

No, it's serendipity, not knowing what (experience) you'll get next, it might be something way out of your frame of reference, which gives a sense of something possibly entirely new by the click of a button.

While for others it's a way to express themselves creatively, experiment and test the boundaries in a social setting without negative consequences.

You were quasi annonymous, you could reinvent yourself over while knowing your chatpartner wont see or meet you again if you don't want to, while testing how to entertain, shock or interact with people.

It's just normal that such a platform brings out also sexual fantasies and desires in people, but there's a whole lot more to such a platform imho.

fe. see the piano dude, as there are many more of these type of people.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[gazbo]

Personally I've used the service precisely once. Discovering what happened during that usage is left as an exercise to the reader.

You told a 13 year old girl to show boobs?

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[sunking2]

That just doesn't say a whole lot about Bill's stamina.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[YrWrstNtmr]

Number of my countrymen to be killed or wounded while Clinton nailed a fat secretary: 0

While not nearly approaching Bush's exploits, we had many military actions during the Clinton years.
Somalia/Bosnia/Kosovo/Afghanistan/Sudan/Desert Fox in Iraq. And it was far more than '0' killed/wounded.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[Richard_at_work]

In the UK we have a law called "Indecent Exposure", under which you can be prosecuted if you expose yourself to someone who had a reasonable expectation that you wouldn't (so it excludes your sexual partners, someone who walks in on you peeing, stripper nights etc) - why does the inclusion of the term "over the internet" change matters with regard to this law?

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[Vectormatic]

after about a few days of chat-roulette, any person checking it out on the internet would have reasonably expected to see some wang, so by that logic it is now legal to show your wedding-tacle on chat-roulette

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[egcagrac0]

What ever happened to the recognition software? Has that already fallen through? Too many false positives? Light problems?

Junk recognition software?

"...just because the pictures aren't of your faces doesn't mean we can't identify you. At this very moment those pictures are on their way to Washington where the FBI has experts in this type of identification. If you turn yourselves in now, you may escape a Federal charge. "

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[clone53421]

That’s not necessarily true. It can be a valid defense, depending on the laws in your state. For instance...

MO Revised Statutes, section 566.020:

Mistake as to incapacity or age--consent not a defense, when.

566.020. 1. Whenever in this chapter the criminality of conduct depends upon a victim's being incapacitated, no crime is committed if the actor reasonably believed that the victim was not incapacitated and reasonably believed that the victim consented to the act. The defendant shall have the burden of injecting the issue of belief as to capacity and consent.

2. Whenever in this chapter the criminality of conduct depends upon a child being thirteen years of age or younger, it is no defense that the defendant believed the child to be older.

3. Whenever in this chapter the criminality of conduct depends upon a child being under seventeen years of age, it is an affirmative defense that the defendant reasonably believed that the child was seventeen years of age or older.

4. Consent is not an affirmative defense to any offense under chapter 566 if the alleged victim is less than twelve years of age.

In short, if the person was under the age of thirteen / twelve (depending on the particular law being violated), you have no defense of “I thought he/she was old enough” (yeah... right). However, if the criminality of the act hinges on believing the person to be 17 (the age of consent is 17), and you reasonably believed that they were 17 and consented to the act, that is a valid defense against criminal charges.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[Sethumme]

Intent to commit an act that is criminalized (whether you recognize that it is or not makes no difference) can be prosecuted if actual steps were taken to complete that act.
Completing an act that is strictly outlawed by statute is a crime regardless of the intent. The risk is wholly upon the actor if they get too close to the line.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[Hoi Polloi]

So instead of a steady live stream of male genitalia pix they will be compiling an archive of genitalia pix?

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[hldn]

the internet is for porn.

expect to see penises around every corner.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[hairyfeet]

Not to mention it is only gonna take just one of those "offenders" to be but a single day under 18 and they are collecting CP! You know, just when you think you've reached the bottom of the barrel when it comes to stupidity, someone comes along and shows you that if you just lift up the barrel you can dig even deeper! Dumb dumb dumb.

Re:And Then What Will You Do With It?

[GreatBunzinni]

I'm not an american nor I ever set foot on US soil but from where I'm standing, a treacherous attack on a docked frigate doesn't negate the legacy of a president which not only managed to get the country's accounting in order but also generated a surplus in the state's budget. Speaking from a country which contracted massive dept and which has to live with a deficit that comes close to 10%, I have to say that a presidency like that sounds pretty good in my book.

pr0n

[Speare]

So they're trying to rid the problem of flashers on Chatroulette, by capturing images? What happens when the flasher is a minor? Or even hint that some flashers are minors? Boom, easy way to get rid of Chatroulette.

Re:pr0n

[Reilaos]

Worse yet, a screenshot of one of those child-flashers winds up used in one of those "grow your penis 4 inches in a week" ads.

Re:pr0n

[clone53421]

As long as they send it straight to the feds they’re just gathering evidence.

9 proxies

[jDeepbeep]

I went through them. Good luck.

Re:Too many dudes...

[elrous0]

Maybe if there were a lot *less* guys flashing their dicks, there would be a lot *more* women on the service.

Unintended consequences

[DNS-and-BIND]

Wow, the law of unintended consequences sure bit them hard? I mean, who would have guessed that combining anonymity with video cameras resulted in distasteful or illegal images? You would have had to be Al Gore to see that one coming. No ordinary person would have predicted this outcome.

Flawed business model = creepy users

[adosch]

What did Chatroulette think was going to happen when they thought diving into the realms of social networking and adding the element of live video feed of everyone who is on there to anyone wanting to look? It's, of course, easier for an exposer or behaviorally creepy basement dweller to crawl out of their cave online than it is in public.

...but enough of the social network rant. I'm glad to see Chatroulette policing up their mess and trying to enforce some sort of civil 'net etiquette, but someone is going to throw the privacy flag up on this one. Let's be real here: it's a bird's eye view directly into A LOT of homes. Regardless of the intention to track IP addresses and gather screenshots, I can easily seeing this getting abused if it isn't controlled or greed doesn't rear it's ugly head into this.

Re:Flawed business model = creepy users

[clone53421]

What did Chatroulette think was going to happen when they thought diving into the realms of social networking and adding the element of live video feed of everyone who is on there to anyone wanting to look? It's, of course, easier for an exposer or behaviorally creepy basement dweller to crawl out of their cave online than it is in public.

Throw in the whole concept of being anonymous and you have a service that is inevitably doomed for exactly what they’ve become.

...but enough of the social network rant. I'm glad to see Chatroulette policing up their mess and trying to enforce some sort of civil 'net etiquette

Utterly futile. As DNS-and-BIND sarcastically pointed out, internet anonymity combined with video cameras is a recipe for ... this. Chatroulette is not simply flawed; it is fatally flawed. It cannot be anything but what it is.

The only way that they could even attempt to stop the crapflood is by having a large moderator group issuing IP and cookie bans immediately to offensive users... and that would be largely ineffective because most of those users probably know how to delete their cookies and reset their IP address or use a proxy while surfing.

Re:Flawed business model = creepy users

[cosm]

but someone is going to throw the privacy flag up on this one. Let's be real here: it's a bird's eye view directly into A LOT of homes.

Are you kidding me? Its a bird's eye view into your home if and only if you do not control the happenings in your home. It is not Chat-roulettes responsibility to nanny everybody so that somebody doesn't see the wrong thing and become psychologically damaged. I am not condoning that, I am just saying place responsibility where it belongs. If you go to chat roulette and see some guy doing the naked-dance, well, congratulations, welcome to the internet. If your kids get on your computer and see some guys junk, does that make that guy a sex offender? Or are you responsibility for not securing your computer from accessing 'illicit' sites in the first place, and properly administering your network.

The internet provides access to the vast majority of mankind's output, be it good, bad, illegal, disturbing, morally reprehensible, strange, intelligent, pointless, or just plain sexual. It is everything. It is information. Content. Everything. It is our modern day 'tree-of-knowledge', exposing you to the good and bad in the world. Some folks can't handle the power of the tree, and decide to monitor, filter, and penalize anything of questionable content.

So the folks out there who want the guy flopping his junk around sued for [insert frivo suit here], nobody is forcing you to sit down on your computer, browse to chatroulette, and click that damn next button. People who trade personal responsibility for bitching and moaning will have, well, will slowly deteriorate many of the sweet things we enjoy today, all to be traded in for a nanny-net.

Re:The internet has RULES?

[NevarMore]

Yep, and if you violate them you can be sent to cyber jail.

http://failblog.org/2010/07/16/epic-fail-video-understanding-of-the-internet-fail-2/

Re:Yeah, great idea

[duguk]

Don't put roulette in the name if it has rules.

Seriously? I've got some people to inform then...

BRB - Gone to Las Vegas...

Idiot.

CP

[Lehk228]

so they are going to start by collecting what is technically child pornography and do what with it?

Re:Too many dudes...

[bickerdyke]

shouldn't there simply be some kind of dickroulette for people who want to show/see them?

Come on.... there's EVERYTHING on the internet!

Proof: http://xkcd.com/305/

Now it's just a matter of time ...

[damn_registrars]

... until someone in a country where that doesn't matter launches an identical service and the game starts all over again.

Re:Too many dudes...

[ElectricTurtle]

Go look up manroullette. It does exist.

Re:master-bait and switch

[iamnobody2]

i thought the creator of this site was Mr Wong from Wong Burger, and it seemed like he knew what he was doing. It does take a lot of dicks to make a dickship.

chatroulette espionage

[magro]

You might not be aware of this but any user can collect IP addresses and record ENTIRE video footage from random chatroulette users. I explained how in my blog http://fernandomagro.com/security/chatroulette-espionage/ . Anyway the concept is really simple because an attacker can open an even number of connections to chatroulette (2,4,6,etc) and then redirect the streams to each other. Say, I open connection1 and connection2 then I capture stream from connection2 and dump it as my primary webcam to connection1 and I capture connection1 and dump it as my secondary webcam to connection2. Only a tiny bit of linux hacking is needed.

More like

[fishexe]

...terrible idea made hilarious by human failings. Who really wants to sit around talking to strangers knowing they will probably just hit Next right when you're starting to get interested? It's like it was made for the hopelessly desperate. The inclusion of penises is what makes the whole thing worthwhile, because now the rest of us get to hear about how the optimistic early-adopters got punked by the horndogs.

Re:Too many dudes...

[bickerdyke]

I foolish I was to have thought otherwise.