Where is stickam

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Stickam truly redefines the meaning of "public exhibition. A close reading of Stickam's privacy policy suggests that the video content that users post to the site can be recorded, repurposed, and commercialized by anyone. To quote the policy, which spells out the agreement between the user and Advanced Video Communications:.

Your account name and other profile information but not your email address is displayed to other internet users when you upload videos or send messages through the Website, and you can be contacted by other users who send you comments. Any videos or other content that you submit to the Website including any Personal Information contained therein may be distributed through the internet and other media. Does this mean that a year-old's Webcast make-out session or worse can be incorporated into an "American Teens Gone Wild" video sold worldwide?

Could Stickam channels be fed to paying customers on DXLive or other adult sites? Think of all the stupid things each of us did as teens that thankfully faded into the past. Now in a highly sexualized environment, young teens are giving up their personal privacy to create online videos that will live on indefinitely to be used by anyone, for any purpose.

It's hard to know how far the abuses of this technology and networked community could go. What is the commercial purpose of Stickam? Where are the lines between these two businesses? And how far could our kids--any kids--get pulled into this web? As far as protection goes, it seems that families are on their own.

I will continue to follow this story as it develops, and I plan to follow up with additional commentary from privacy and security experts. I empathize with every parent's worry and the fact that it takes a lot of work to keep on top of new sites as they come online. Stickam has crossed a line that I believe warrants government investigation. With Stickam, people, bands and organizations have the chance to reach a wide audience without breaking the bank.

You can view some Stickam live feeds without creating an account. Just visit the Web site and you can browse all the public live feeds. But Stickam users can choose to restrict who can see their video feeds. To increase your access you'll need to generate your own account. To create a new account from scratch, you'll need to provide a username, valid e-mail address and password. You'll also need to indicate your gender and enter your birthday.

Stickam members must be at least 14 years old. You'll want to double-check your information before you move on -- Stickam doesn't let you change your gender or birthday information once you've created your account.

After creating your account, Stickam will send a message to the e-mail address you used during registration. You'll need to click on the link inside the message or paste it into your Web browser to confirm your account. If you don't confirm, Stickam will void your new account after seven days.

Confirming your account will also prompt Stickam to ask you if you want to invite friends to the service. Once you create your account, Stickam will present several options to you.

If you have a working webcam ready to go, you can start streaming live video right away. You can also browse other video feeds or upload pre-recorded media. Other options include joining group discussions focused on a particular topic or inviting your friends to join Stickam. Or you can choose to fill out your profile information.

Your Stickam profile will look familiar to you if you've used other social networking sites. You can fill out information about yourself, upload a profile picture and make changes to your account settings. Like many sites, Stickam takes advantage of the Facebook Connect service. Newcomers to Stickam can create a profile by logging in using their Facebook profile information. Stickam will send status updates to the new member's Facebook account automatically so that Facebook friends know when the new user is broadcasting live on Stickam.

Sites like Stickam make broadcasting with your webcam simple. But the process is actually complicated. Here's a bird's-eye view of how Stickam delivers live streaming video. First, you start with the video source.

Let's say you've written a song and you're itching to share it with the world. Begin by setting up your webcam and logging in to Stickam.

Next, you choose to go live, activating your camera feed. At that point, your webcam uploads the video feed data through your Internet connection to Stickam.

Stickam encodes the video feed into a streaming format. Stickam's servers send the encoded video feed to anyone viewing your Stickam feed. The video player within each person's Web browser is a decoder -- it accepts the encoded data and converts it back into a video format. Of course, you can adjust your video settings when you go live to suit your connection speeds.

If your video seems to lag or has other problems, you can choose a lower-quality setting. This will decrease the size of the video player on your account and reduce the frame rate. If the people viewing your video have their own cameras active, you'll be able to see their video in your profile window, too. They'll also be able to see one another within the chat environment.

As the moderator, you can choose to mute users or allow them to talk. If you want to be the center of attention you can opt to mute everyone and deliver a lecture. Or you can create a group conversation around a topic and host a free for all. Live streaming video requires a fast Internet connection. Stickam recommends a T1 or DSL connection for best results. Most of Stickam's features center around streaming live video.

You can use Stickam to broadcast video over the Web the same way a television studio sends content to televisions. But you can also engage in an interactive experience with other users, pushing Stickam beyond the limitations of your average television set.

Stickam users can create chat or debate rooms and invite others to join. The person who creates the room becomes the administrator and has control over the room's settings. The administrator can create an open chat room where any other Stickam member can join or restrict the room with a password.

Chat rooms can hold more than members at a time. Up to 12 Stickam members can display video in the browser window. The window also has a chat client that allows people who aren't in the top 12 -- or those who don't have microphones or cameras -- to participate by typing their comments.

The administrator can choose who's allowed to speak and can even boot people from the room if necessary. Stickam also allows the administrator to appoint moderators. That can come in handy if the room is popular. Like other social networking sites, you can send friend requests to fellow members.

Once your new friend accepts your request, you'll be able to see when he or she is online as you log in to Stickam. Linking Stickam to a Facebook or Twitter account can also keep friends informed when you hit the online airwaves.

Stickam supports the integration of these Web services -- you enter your login information for the service at Stickam and an automatic notice will go to your Facebook or Twitter account whenever you go live. You can also subscribe to someone on Stickam. Bands, journalists, writers, actors and artists have all used Stickam to connect and grow a network of fans. The viewers get the chance to interact with some of their favorite personalities.

According to Web analyst companies like Alexa and Quantcast, most of Stickam's users are between the ages of 13 and Just more than half of the user base is male. The site's demographics have inspired some analysts to claim that Stickam is the live streaming video service for the young crowd looking to socialize online. By creating an account, a user agrees to obey Stickam's terms of service.

These terms establish restrictions on the kind of content users can broadcast. According to the terms, it's against the rules to use Stickam to perpetuate fraud, harass individuals, distribute malware or stream content that is indecent or obscene. The terms don't define what Stickam considers to be indecent or obscene. The terms also attempt to absolve Stickam of any supervisory capacity.