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Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

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Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at least you agree that is because big companies have enough money to buy enough moderation correct? So in the best case scenario is jut another part of society that small companies are not allowed to participate if they are not rich enough.

If I post CSAM on HN I am 100% going to be reported and sent to jail. HN has only 2-3 mods, yet I don't see a plethora of old men's schlongs on here. Yet Omegle made more money and had more users than HN ever would, but consistently failed at moderation. > small companies are not allowed to participate if they are not rich enough It's been open knowledge to anyone who's been in middle and high school since 2010 (like…

> HN has only 2-3 mods, yet I don't see a plethora of old men's schlongs on here.

HN doesn't even allow text formatting changes beyond monospace and italics, much less posting pictures or video.

Even without moderation, you'd only be at risk of ASCII art schlongs.

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#43
post #18

If you used Omegle for more than 30 seconds, you'd know it was filled with sexual predators exposing themselves to children. I'm surprised it lasted this long. I'm sympathetic to the creator, I don't think tools should be banned because there are bad users, but Omegle's user base has its reputation for a reason.

yeah, I see a lot of people crying out here about the diminished freedom of speech, but did any of ya'll actually use this? It lasted for maybe a month after its launch as the way it was intended. After that - it was used 90% by perverts

Spaces like this deserve to exist too, and removing them from the world makes the world worse.

Omegle has been a great place for content creators [1], people learning languages [2], LGBT youth escaping their religious/rural upbringings, etc.

I hope you don't take this fight to VRChat [3, 4, etc]. That might just be too much freedom for people.

Shame on people trying to kill these platforms.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbjpkSkJvw8 (CodeMiko regularly trolls Omegle)

[2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D4bbyY_0Wng (this is great)

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T1T6X_B9CI (just skimming these, but it's innocent fun)

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS9IdrREB6I

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But at least you agree that is because big companies have enough money to buy enough moderation correct? So in the best case scenario is jut another part of society that small companies are not allowed to participate if they are not rich enough.

If I post CSAM on HN I am 100% going to be reported and sent to jail. HN has only 2-3 mods, yet I don't see a plethora of old men's schlongs on here. Yet Omegle made more money and had more users than HN ever would, but consistently failed at moderation. > small companies are not allowed to participate if they are not rich enough It's been open knowledge to anyone who's been in middle and high school since 2010 (like…

A few quick searches suggests to me that Omegle had more users -- 73 million monthly versus maybe 5 million or so on HN -- but they were only worth $5 million dollars.

Hacker News is not and never has been a "business" in its own right. It's part of the business model of a VC fund -- Y Combinator -- and Forbes indicates they were worth $5 billion as of 2021.

Also, I don't think we know how many people moderate HN and never have.

I don't work here. I just hang here sometimes and have for years. I don't have reliable info.

But I am pretty sure you have no idea what you are talking about.

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Exposing yourself without consent is a crime in most places. Omegle was full of that. Watching porn is obviously voluntary.

Topless laws and nude beaches disagree. Nudity is not porn.

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#46

If you used Omegle for more than 30 seconds, you'd know it was filled with sexual predators exposing themselves to children. I'm surprised it lasted this long. I'm sympathetic to the creator, I don't think tools should be banned because there are bad users, but Omegle's user base has its reputation for a reason.

HN treats it like the last bastion of intellectual free speech.

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#47
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exposing yourself without consent is a crime in most places. Omegle was full of that. Watching porn is obviously voluntary.

Topless laws and nude beaches disagree. Nudity is not porn.

Exposing yourself in sexually suggestive or provocative ways is not covered by nudity laws

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Exposing yourself without consent is a crime in most places. Omegle was full of that. Watching porn is obviously voluntary.

I'm sorry these statements are simply not congruent. A private website that had quite a ubiquitous reputation (factual or not, consistent or not) for sexual web-cam encounters is not "most places." And you're being disingenuous by pretending it counts as such.

Going to Omegle is voluntary. Watching people's web cams is voluntary. Interacting with strangers from your own personal device on a site is voluntary.

There is not a reasonable expectation of having any kind of pristine interaction on such mediums.

This is in juxtaposition to private websites that effectively serve as social spaces such as Twitter, Facebook, etc because they are advertised and designed as such, they are distributed as such by major companies (Apple, etc) so it would be REASONABLE to assume you won't get some weirdo pervert on cam or some racist parading around in a KKK outfit.

Omegle was never that. Not from the start. Not during its prime time. And not obviously not towards the end.

I cannot believe I have to "fuzzy peaches" this topic since it's normally an absolutely bonkers claim designed to absolve people of responsibility and consequences. Ironically, in this case, the opposite is true.

You are responsible for going to a private site, with a known reputation, with no guarantees about what kind of interaction you have with complete total strangers from all over the world from various different backgrounds and social climates.

If you have concerns about you or your loved ones visiting that site: every single ISP on the planet will now help you setup filters over the phone or via chat. And so will vendors like Apple support.

People's choices and actions are _not your concern_ when they don't actively affect you and when you have to go out of your way to have them even be remotely relevant to your day to day life.

And if you chose to fumble your way into such a medium, the "X" button is one click away. But it was still your choice and so you are ultimately responsible for being there in the first place.

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#49
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exposing yourself without consent is a crime in most places. Omegle was full of that. Watching porn is obviously voluntary.

Topless laws and nude beaches disagree. Nudity is not porn.

And yet, getting frisky (with yourself or others) on a nude beach is typically illegal.

Topfreedom, in places where that is legal, is also seen quite differently than full nudity. Going to a nude beach is an opt-in experience; consent to view fully nude people is implicit in going there. Where nude beaches are uncommon, they are typically very well marked as such.

And, to pick a nit, because I live in a locale where toplessness is equal-opportunity: we enjoy this freedom due to the lack of a law restricting it.

Re: Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit from a Sexual Abuse Survivor

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I post CSAM on HN I am 100% going to be reported and sent to jail. HN has only 2-3 mods, yet I don't see a plethora of old men's schlongs on here. Yet Omegle made more money and had more users than HN ever would, but consistently failed at moderation. > small companies are not allowed to participate if they are not rich enough It's been open knowledge to anyone who's been in middle and high school since 2010 (like…

A few quick searches suggests to me that Omegle had more users -- 73 million monthly versus maybe 5 million or so on HN -- but they were only worth $5 million dollars. Hacker News is not and never has been a "business" in its own right. It's part of the business model of a VC fund -- Y Combinator -- and Forbes indicates they were worth $5 billion as of 2021. Also, I don't think we know how many people moderate HN and…

> It's part of the business model of a VC fund -- Y Combinator

It's part of YC but I can confidently say only around 4-5 people are working on it including moderation. I can also say confidently that more resources are spent by YC on Bookface and their own internal BI tools than HN.

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