Chatroulette reports saucy antisocial networkers

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CRACKING DOWN: The popular voyeuristic video chat site Chatroulette has started tracking and reporting breaches of "inappropriate content" to police.

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Chatroulette is coming clean. The popular voyeuristic video chat site, that has become notorious as a haven for naked exhibitionism, has started tracking and reporting breaches of "inappropriate content" to police.

The company is capturing pictures and internet addresses of people being naughty at the service that randomly links strangers via webcam.

"Chatroulette was great in the first honeymoon days after it was launched, before it was discovered by strange people who started to abuse the true freedom and democratic nature of the service," founder Andrey Ternovskiy said in a blog post.

The site was created late last year by the 17-year-old Russian, and immediately rose in popularity for its unique service, which randomly and anonymously connects computer users to one another.

Ternovskiy explained that Chatroulette has begun capturing computer "IP" numbers that serve as online addresses along video screenshots that "prove wrong behaviour".

Chatroulette has been denounced by some critics as a hotbed of exhibitionism and voyeurism and last month was reportedly investigating the technological means of blocking out male genitals.

A deluge of inappropriate content has made it a target for comedians with The Daily Show's Jon Stewart and SouthPark writers and the site has lost over half of its share of visits in the past quarter according to recent data from Experian Hitwise.

A message at the Chatroulette home page on Tuesday warned "Broadcasting inappropriate content to minors is a violation of both US and UN law" and noted that the website was cooperating with police.

"Luckily we all live in a real world, and we can easily apply the laws of a real world even on an internet application," said Ternovskiy, who launched Chatroulette in November.

"I hope that with help of criminal law we can finally get the problem out of our shoulders and get existing organisations which usually solve these kinds of problems to help us."

Lascivious antics by users have marred Chatroulette's image and presented challenges to winning investors and operating legally in the United States, according to Ternovskiy.

"We've blocked thousands of IP addresses, reported offenders and service seems to be much cleaner than before," the website's creator said.

"That is cool. The future seems to be bright."

- with wires

- © Fairfax NZ News