Cam whore

Four years ago as a college freshman I wrote a paper for a sociological deviance class on the topic of webcams as a loophole for underage pornography and the dynamic between the viewer and the cam "actress". I knew the danger because I had experienced it first hand, hosting my own show when I was in high school. In hindsight I realized this behavior was unsafe and I wondered why more parents weren't aware and more articles weren't written.

This recent New York Times article profiles one "cam whore" and explains how many teens are duped into sexual acts and nudity in exchange for friendship and gifts. The in-depth story reveals some of the most frightening parts, that the adults who watch these videos communicate with one another as to what teen is revealing the most, they steal the images and archive them and frequently sell them to porn sites. All these great new technolgies like high speed internet, video chat and paypal have facilitated this..some computers today even have cameras directly built in.

The risks of myspace have become widely publicized in the past few months but this is the first major article I've seen on "cam whores". Hopefully both the law officials and parents will start catching on to this hidden practice.

UPDATE:On April 3rd Justin told his story to the house committee on capitol hill, warning law makers that "Unless something changes, the child predators will win often enough that dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of children will be lost forever"
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