Chat Roulette – The Most Dangerous Site on the Internet

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Have you ever wondered what may be the most dangerous site on the Internet? Well, I know, and as parents, you need to know too!

The Chat Roulette website was created by Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17 year old high school student in Moscow. The site was launched in November 2009, with 500 visitors a day. One month later, there were 50,000 visitors a day!

The site is growing at an alarming rate and it let’s you speak with and see anyone in the world who has a camera on their computer. The site randomly chooses another user, anywhere in the world.

Unfortunately, you have no way of knowing who the next person is, that the system randomly selects to appear on your screen. Each user’s location can also be pinpointed on a Google Maps style interface. This can be seen at www.chatroulettemap.com .

Parents are advised to BLOCK Chat Roulette for the safety of their children. Remember, the internet is unfiltered and uncensored, and there is a lot of content that is inappropriate for children.

Chat Roulette has grown to 1.5 million visitors per day. If we look at the statistics, we can see a trend.
• 82% Male, 18% Female
• 64% clothed with face, 23% nude, 13% clothed with blocked face
• 3% chats

It appears that the original concept of random chats does not appear to be how the site is being used. One commentator says it is 89% Male, 47% American and 13% Perverts. I would say the figure of 13% is conservative.

Social Networking Sites for Young Ones

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Social networking sites such as Bebo and FaceBook are regularly in the new, and usually for all the wrong reasons.

However, what we don't here about often are the social networking sites that are safe for our kids to use.

There are two New Zealand sites which come highly recommended. HectorsWorld is run by NetSafe and is an interactive cartoon site with excellent teaching resources for kids, parents and adults. It teaches kids how to use the internet safely while having fun. It teaches kids about cyber safety, using interactive cartoon imagery and activities. While there is also a wealth of resources for both parents and teachers to use also.

The second site has only been recently launched, and is aimed at the lucrutive US market. That does not stop anyone from using the site though. Minimonos is another cartoon interactive site that teaches kids about the environment we live in, and has various activities that allow the child to contribute to the environment positively, in a friendly way. There is also a feature where they can chat to friends and make new friends at the same time.

There is a third site, which is not yet launched. It is currently being piloted in selected schools around New Zealand, and is called SuperClubsPlus.

SuperKidsPlus has been in Australia for sometime, and will be luanched nationwide this year. The difference between this site and some others, is that a teacher at the childs' school needs to authorise the creation of a user account. This prevents someone from setting up an account and providing false details. Parents can look forward to this safe environment for our children to play on!

Know Where Your Kids Are ... And Everyone Else Will Too!

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Once again Facebook is diminishing our privacy. From next month Facebook are launching a location feature to identify where a user is, with each post they make.

Facebook say that users will have a choice of whether they opt in for the service or not. I hope it is not automatically applied to profiles, and users need to opt out if they don’t want the service.

The main reason Facebook claim they are launching this service, is to allow for more targeted advertising, based on location. It is a shame that advertising takes precedence over personal safety, but it is a testament to the world we live in today.

I recommend parents familiarise themselves with the settings first, before teaching their children about the settings and consequences of having this setting activated. I for one, will be keeping this setting disabled.