Over at the New York Times online, the Bits blog has scored a statement from this week’s biggest internet celeb: the creator of random video chat phenomenon Chatroulette. According to the report, the man behind the magic is Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17-year-old high school student from Moscow.
The bizarre and purposefully invasive service pairs strangers for a two-way chat through web cams, allowing either user to move on to a new partner with the quick click of a button. The result is a lot of sad dorm rooms, shirtless men in bed and the occasional naked exhibitionist. The subject of rabid media attention over the last ten days, Chatroulette has between 10,000 and 50,000 users live at any moment throughout the day and is the momentary hottest in a wave of online social experimentation from Omegle to Google Buzz.
Ternovskiy delivered a lengthy email to the Bits blog, indicating his reservations about outing himself because he’s underage and said the project was created “for fun.”
Though it’s entirely possible that someone is wrongfully claiming ownership of the mysterious service, the earnest response and high level of detail are at least on Ternovskiy’s side. Here’s a portion of his letter to the Times.
Read the rest of the story at Mediaite
Published: Feb 14, 2010 10:47 am