Spinning the barrel of Chatroulette

23/02/10 posted by Liz Niland

From what I’ve seen, internet sensation Chatroulette hasn’t yet made the evening news in Australia. It has, however, got tech blogs the world over excited by its wildly controversial premise. For those not familiar, Chatroulette is a website that allows users to have video chats with randomly selected strangers via their webcams. If you become bored or, more than likely, freaked out by your stranger, you can simply click to skip them, thus connecting you to the life of another available user.    

Started “for fun” by a 17-year-old Russian lad named Andrey Ternovskiy, Chatroulette attracts around 20,000 users per night. Sure, that isn’t exactly comparative to Facebook user statistics, but it’s pretty impressive for a simple-looking site coded by a schoolboy.

Revealing himself to the New York Times, Ternovskiy said he’s proud of his project and that “it is a pleasure for me to work on”. If you’ve been to the site (and be seriously warned, it’s highly likely to yield people and images that are unsuitable viewing for a work computer) you’ll note the minimalist layout and barely-there advertising. Although Ternovskiy might seem like a kid merely dabbling in basic web development tricks, don’t be fooled - he’s been coding since he was 11. As he wrote in his statement to the paper, he knows what he wants in a website, “I love minimalism. That’s why I have put only four links on the bottom as advertisements. And what is interesting, is that these advertisements almost cover all expenses, just those four links on the bottom!”

Stirring controversy for its allowance of anything and everything to be broadcast, Chatroulette is certainly not one for the faint-hearted, squeamish or slightly-prudish. Alexia Tsotis, when blogging about her Chatroulette experience for TechCrunch, described the service as “micro-interactive reality TV with a large heaping of cybersex”.

And given our government can’t very well stop you from doing explicit things on your own privately streamed webcam, it’s sure to provoke great debate if the site continues to grow in popularity. There's a button through which the real baddies can be reported, but, for those that shoutdown even Facebook's screening attempts, it will definitely not be enough.

The unpredictability of the service may also hinder its chance of mainstream popularity and possibly, offers of investment in its expansion. As I mentioned though, if you decide to spin the barrel and take a shot, be prepared for anything. Truly, absolutely anything.