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On listservs and blogs, education researchers and teachers are beginning to discuss how to handle this latest online application. To most educators, filtering is never a preferred option. Teachers and media specialists almost uniformly choose to use opportunities like this to teach students how to make decisions about what's appropriate on their own. "One of the responsibilities of working with students on the use of online resources is to make them aware of potential dangers so they can make informed choices," says Deb Logan, librarian and media specialist for Mount Gilead (OH) High School, by email. "A discussion of online resources like Chatroulette offers a learning opportunity. These opportunities sometimes come at unexpected times." But educators believe Chatroulette may be a bit different then other similar sites like Omegle.com and Facebook's PopJam in that video is involved-and there's no way to edit what pops up on the screen other than clicking "next" after it's already appeared. There's no lurking allowed on Chatroulette-once a user signs in, they're visible to anyone who chances upon them, and anyone, in turn, is visible to them. Needless to say, there's a bit of nudity and sexual play being reported on the site, and the swiftness of people moving from image to image doesn't allow children to protect themselves-other than signing off.

Chatroulette allows people around the world to see each other and chat via text or audio. Users can click "next" to skip from person to person, never knowing what the next image will be. But this unregulated freedom presents serious safety concerns for children. Violent and sexually charged images frequently turn up on Chatroulette, according to Sam Anderson, who chronicled his experience on the site for New York Magazine.

ChatRoulette is a new website that connects you face to face with Internet users around the world. When you go to the site and hit Play your webcam turns on and you're connected to another person. Most times you'll hit Next within a few seconds and be connected to someone else. Sometimes people stop to chat. Basically, instead of surfing the web, you're surfing people.

Chatroulette, a Web site that connects videochatters with a limitless number of "random strangers" from around the globe, is an Internet sensation -- but it poses unique dangers for minors and new challenges for law enforcement.

It's easy to see new Internet phenomena and panic, especially when the technology in question opens up a portal to all of the weird parts of the Internet. This is precisely what is happening around ChatRoulette, a new peer-to-peer webcam-based video chat site. Although the site was built by a 17-year-old Russian high school student to connect with other teens, nearly every adult who has visited the site runs screaming that this is a terrible space for young people. In some senses, they're right. But the more that they panic and talk about how bad this is for teens, the more teens get curious and want to check it out. The result? A phenomenon generated through fear.

danah boyd says she's been following ChatRoulette for a while now but hasn't been comfortable talking about it publicly. For one, it's a hugely controversial site, one that is prompting yet-another moral panic about youth engagement online.

It's a discussion parents all around the world are having: Is Chatroulette something we should be worried about?

Despite being developed by a 17-year old as a way to randomly video chat with people from around the world, ChatRoulette has quickly become a cause for concern about children (and adults) seeing objectionable activities. Larry Magid offers advice on what it would take to make the technology a much more useful video social networking site.

Educational value: There is the rare chance to try out a newly learned language wth someone from another country or learn new things by meeting random folks around the world, but this site is such a lawless environment that it's too risky to really be educational at this point.

A lighter way to introduce Chatroulette, if you were giving a talk to parents who didn't know what it was.

Did you know you could lose insurance benefits from putting photos online? Or that a Tweet can put you in jail? Or that the FBI might be friending you on Facebook? Or that even brand-new service Chatroulette isn't truly anonymous?

This is scary...especially if chat roulette users thought they were anonymous and if they're kids.