Seriously. Has anyone mentioned how creepy Omegle is? The website Omegle.
I mean, periodically, I'll go on and meet someone decent. We'll have an interesting conversation about languages and phonetics or about theology. Sometimes I'll even get someone good who can hold a good discussion on labels and stereotypes.
But 95% of the time? People are there for sex. Cyber sex. Most don't bother to hide their purpose. And I have to wonder, why don't people have anything better to do?
Regardless of taste, it's even funnier when I play with the "spy mode" beta where you can ask a question and watch strangers discuss the question, with no ability to interact with them. I bother to ask a real question in spy mode, instead of the trolling "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THIS QUESTION" or the voyeuristic "have cybersex. Go on! NOW." Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but the intent is very much there in some "questions".
Like I said, I actually ask a real question. I rather enjoyed a conversation, playing the one-word game (where you try to make a story, with everyone taking turns saying one word at a time) so I borrowed the prompt and used it several times when I was the spy. The very first time I posted the question, I naturally kept up with the conversation, hoping for a clever story. I began to realize, though, that for some reason, people also tend to share personal information. I struck gold, reading that conversation, in that regard. There was a girl that claimed to have no facebook, tumblr or anything else online, and generally seemed very protective of her information. However, with NO PROMPTING on my part, I managed to get her home state, first name and a good guess at her middle name, a fair bit of information about her life AND a phone number.
I can call or text her. I even did, trying to freak her out so she would hopefully learn not to give out ANY info online. I felt justified, since it's not like I was trying to stalk her, even though I had a jump start if I wanted to. The poor 15 year old freaked out, even though I identified immediately as the spy from omegle and commented on their conversation, asking for her to clarify to the other stranger (an 18 year old male, he claimed, but with much less revelation of info) how the spy thing actually worked and a few other details relevant to their conversation.
It's not like I was trying to stalk anyone, but I still have her number saved in the email account I texted her from. It's actually rather hard to get rid of numbers you've texted that way, at least on Gmail.
So now what do I do? I don't want to be malicious or stalk her, but the closest I can come to that is to ignore that I have her number. Perhaps if I scare her enough, she'll change it? Then neither I nor "Joe" will have her number, but as we've already discussed, it is SUPER easy to be a creeper on Omegle. There's no guarantee that he is who he says he is or anything like that. But how to scare her… I may be a little bit evil for this, but i really like planning this. Scare her just enough to never be that stupid again. Fortunately I have a few good guy friends that can put on a good "internet creeper" voice. My own wouldn't work. I have a gentle, feminine voice, and no flair for the dramatic, no ability to intimidate people. I wonder how many calls it will take from these friends of mine before she gets her number changed. I've already proven that she didn't give out a fake number.
But you know, I don't really know what my ultimate goal is. I'm definitely a cat inside. I love toying with my "prey." Maybe I do have the makings of a successful creeper. Omegle does bring out the worst in us. *evil chuckle*
Long story short, don't be stupid. Personal information is only for people you know personally. Is that really so hard to understand?
That's all for now. Unless I have a volunteer to call my dear little friend and scare her? Haha, I'm not that cruel… As far as we know.
You know what, if you really, desperately want to volunteer, email me. I MIGHT open it up to volunteers if a particular friend of mine takes too long to get around to calling, but I want to be sure I absolutely trust the people I would give her number to. Minimizing the damage, of course.
Seriously though. All I have to say. Have I made my point yet?
EDIT: I found this picture today (3/12/12) http://ohinternet.com/File:Xg4i7.png
It means that at least Omegle has a little moderation, even if it's just automated reports of sex offenders. You might run across several perverts, but you will be warned of sex offenders on record. Still though, people. Everyone starts somewhere, and not everyone is caught. Don't be stupid, 'kay?
No comments:
Post a Comment