Voyeurs ‘R Us: What parents need to know about Stickam:
This is a great article from Amy Tiemann at Wired about every parent’s worst nightmare on the internet, Stickam.
Common sense tells most parents that the whole idea of live video chats involving minors is a ridiculously risky business to start out with. As Stickam’s corporate relationships are being untangled in the press, a parent’s visit to the site reveals that there is already plenty to be worried about.
My first question is where did the “age 14 and older” guideline come from? What possible reason could there be for anyone under age 18 to interact in live, unfiltered audio/video chat with online strangers or “friends?” No matter where the age restriction is set, it is blatantly unenforced. Stickam’s FAQ says, “While Stickam has established rules keeping children under the age of 14 from becoming a member, it is easy for children to lie about their age and thus gain access to content which may be inappropriate and unintended for them. It is up to parents to properly supervise their children’s online activities.”
A close reading of Stickam’s privacy policy suggests that the video content that users post to the site can be recorded, repurposed, and commercialized by anyone. To quote the policy, which spells out the agreement between the user and Advanced Video Communications:
“Any Personal Information (including video content) that you disclose on the Website (for example, on message boards or chat rooms, or within your personal profile page) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others. Your account name and other profile information (but not your email address) is displayed to other internet users when you upload videos or send messages through the Website, and you can be contacted by other users who send you comments. Any videos or other content that you submit to the Website (including any Personal Information contained therein) may be distributed through the internet and other media.”
Does this mean that a 14-year-old’s Webcast make-out session (or worse) can be incorporated into an “American Teens Gone Wild” video sold worldwide? Could Stickam channels be fed to paying customers on DXLive or other adult sites? Think of all the stupid things each of us did as teens that thankfully faded into the past. Now in a highly sexualized environment, young teens are giving up their personal privacy to create online videos that will live on indefinitely to be used by anyone, for any purpose.
As far as protection goes, it seems that families are on their own.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything she says concerning Stickam. My wife and I never allowed our kids to have webcams and I always looked funny at the parents that did. And now with Stickam’s alleged ties to porn if they were still underage would be even more reason for them not to have one.
And like I’m fond of saying, where are the attorneys general now regarding Stickam? It’s always better to stop a problem before it happens.
