Oh not this shit again!

BTP

You may remember the article almost exactly a year ago back about how child molestors could get at children through a Nintendo DS by using Pictochat?

This is the original article from a year ago.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=special_coverage&id=3905371

But guess what? Despite our efforts (because I know a few of us e-mailed them to correct their mistakes), there's ANOTHER article by another media outlet about "Hey parents, you know that DS you got your kid for Christmas? They might be using it to talk to molestors! OH NOEZ!"

I swear you will all rip your hair out when the reporter shows a parent how it's done.

[spoiler:ce0090da77]"Granted the girls knew it was me sending the messages, but we had only met just minutes before."[/spoiler:ce0090da77]

Here's the new article, and it's in video.

Ugh.

Veevee

No worries, I think this is the same station that had one of their women reporters drive a $250,000 company car into Lake Michigan a couple weeks ago.

Fencingsax

Veevee wrote:

No worries, I think this is the same station that had one of their women reporters drive a $250,000 company car into Lake Michigan a couple weeks ago.

Is this the one who drove onto the ice to film an ice safety video?

matt7718

whatever happened to child molesters just offering kids candy? Do they still do that?

I seriously doubt the DS will be directly involved in a child abduction or molestation case within the next 10 years. Or ever.

John Taggart

Yay woo, yellow journalism at it's finest.

Yes, child molesters are bad. Yes, they exploit technology to make it easier. But do we really need to know every single bloody time something has the potential to make it easier for child molesters to molest children?

No, we don't. There are more important things to worry about in the world than whether or not Little Johnny's Nintendo DS makes him a prime target for child molesters . . . like, oh, the child molesters themselves!

AbsoluteZero

Fencingsax wrote:

Veevee wrote:

No worries, I think this is the same station that had one of their women reporters drive a $250,000 company car into Lake Michigan a couple weeks ago.

Is this the one who drove onto the ice to film an ice safety video?

What?

That sounds hilarious. Link plz.

Veevee

Fencingsax wrote:

Veevee wrote:

No worries, I think this is the same station that had one of their women reporters drive a $250,000 company car into Lake Michigan a couple weeks ago.

Is this the one who drove onto the ice to film an ice safety video?

Yes, that would be her. Unfortunetly, it was CBS 38 in milwaukee, so a different channel, but they're all idiots.

AbsoluteZero wrote:

Fencingsax wrote:

Veevee wrote:

No worries, I think this is the same station that had one of their women reporters drive a $250,000 company car into Lake Michigan a couple weeks ago.

Is this the one who drove onto the ice to film an ice safety video?

What?

That sounds hilarious. Link plz.

http://www.channel3000.com/video/10869522/detail.html

FaceballMcDougal

You know ... parents really should educate themselves about the gadgets their kids buy... and only stupid parents still haven't figured that out.

Fox news outlets cater to stupid people... so in a way I suppose it's a good thing... in a really... backwards... fucked up way.

UncleSporky

I like how they called Reggie a guru, like he's an unbiased predictor of the DS's success.

Davoid

This video only proves one thing: It even works at 300 feet! AWESOME!

DekuStick

Hahahahaha watch out man a molester might see your kid in the car and start chatting with them.

darleysam

matt7718 wrote:

whatever happened to child molesters just offering kids candy? Do they still do that?

I seriously doubt the DS will be directly involved in a child abduction or molestation case within the next 10 years. Or ever.

they do, but it's more like "come visit my village in Animal Crossing"
*open present*

Davoid

Wait a minute, one kid's got an SP. What the hell? Ha ha ha ha! Shit, look out for messages on that sucker!

UncleSporky

I like the ending, how they say Nintendo recommends caution and that parents should read the manuals. Most scaremongers don't put any responsibility on the parents.

BTP

Davoid wrote:

Wait a minute, one kid's got an SP. What the hell? Ha ha ha ha! Shit, look out for messages on that sucker!

There was that and "It has lots of graphics." lol

Here's an idea: Set the system to boot up a game automatically and bypass the system menu. Never worry about Pictochat ever again!...mostly.

Davoid

I love the assumption that kids, whether they be in a mall or in a traveling car, are just going to enter pictochat and let it idle there.

electricpirate

It pulls child predators out of thin air!

Backlash

John Taggart wrote:

Yes, child molesters are bad. Yes, they exploit technology to make it easier. But do we really need to know every single bloody time something has the potential to make it easier for child molesters to molest children?

Yes? I mean if I were a parent I'd at least like to keep informed on how the possibilities exist.

Granted it definetely doesn't need the sensationalist spin that this crappy news site gives it.

SimBen

Gah. If a child molester can PictoChat with a kid, he's within shouting distance anyway. With the exception that the kid has to know the molester beforehand and have agreed to PictoChat with him.

And honestly, molester or not, if you get on PictoChat, somebody will draw a penis. Multiple times. It's the only thing it's good for.

DekuStick

I also love how one kid is replying his questions while the other scribbles big black boxes. And the reporters pink little DS needs a charge.

BTP

I'm willing to bet there are more people around my area with wireless routers than there are Nintendo DS systems. Only a couple of times in a car have I managed to get Mario Kart to find some available signals to go online, but of course by the time I search again, I'm out of range because I'm in a moving car!

I have never been able to randomly Pictochat. Ever.

The only way a molestor using a DS could target you with a DS is if they are behind you, and the driver will notice that someone is following them after a while.

Of course, it would only be worth their time if they know your kid has a Nintendo DS in the first place, so they would have to hang around your kid even more before they are following you in their car.

JUST THINK THIS SHIT THROUGH, PARENTS! YOU'LL UNDERSTAND HOW CRAZY THIS IS!

dmauro

It's FOX.

Yar

This just in: if your child meets a stranger and gives him her phone number - he can communicate with her over the very telephone in your home! Didn't know you were inviting molestors right into your home with that new "telephone" gadget you bought this year, didja?

Backlash

Yar wrote:

This just in: if your child meets a stranger and gives him her phone number - he can communicate with her over the very telephone in your home! Didn't know you were inviting molestors right into your home with that new "telephone" gadget you bought this year, didja?

Yea, but, I mean, most people know that. Telephones have been around a while. "Gameboys" that can communicate wirelessly are relatively new.

Seriously, without the sensationalist garbage FOX throws at it, it's not a horrible idea to at least let parents know that its possible.

Yar

It is a device capable of communication, yes, that they ought to be told.

mausmalone

Yar wrote:

It is a device capable of communication, yes, that they ought to be told.

By who, exactly? Is it your local Best Buy employee's responsibility to warn a parent that a DS has pictochat? Would the parent listen?

After all, if you're an employee and a parent comes up and says "I want to buy a DS" you just get it for them. Do they ever just come in and say "hey fill me in on what this DS thing is?"

Ahtari

haha.

It's so easy to be molested! You just have to be logged into picto chat for no apparent reason instead of playing your game, be within shouting distance of a predator, who also has a DS and is in pictochat waiting[/], then join the room with them and divulge all your secrets!

Plus the fact that if your kid is just telling stragers his phone number and address you fail at parenting anyway.

Backlash

Ahtari wrote:

haha.

It's so easy to be molested! You just have to be logged into picto chat for no apparent reason instead of playing your game, be within shouting distance of a predator, who also has a DS and is in pictochat waiting[/], then join the room with them and divulge all your secrets!

Plus the fact that if your kid is just telling stragers his phone number and address you fail at parenting anyway.

I think the worry comes from not being able to see what your kid is doing. I mean if a stranger comes up and offers them candy while you're watching them at a playground or something, you can rush out and intervene.

If you're at a playground and your kid is on a DS, and there's a seedy guy on a bench also on a DS, if you didn't know any better you wouldn't think anything is wrong. At least knowing it's a possibility will help you when you see that guy on the bench.

Unknown

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jclast

Here's a crazy thought.

What the hell ever happened to parents reading the manual and calmly explaing to their children that they shouldn't PictoChat with anybody they don't know?

And I'm sorry, but the only place I see kids using PictoChat is in a classroom. Any other time that DS is open, the kid's playing a game.

Backlash

mcdermott wrote:

Backlash wrote:

Ahtari wrote:

haha.

It's so easy to be molested! You just have to be logged into picto chat for no apparent reason instead of playing your game, be within shouting distance of a predator, who also has a DS and is in pictochat waiting[/], then join the room with them and divulge all your secrets!

Plus the fact that if your kid is just telling stragers his phone number and address you fail at parenting anyway.

I think the worry comes from not being able to see what your kid is doing. I mean if a stranger comes up and offers them candy while you're watching them at a playground or something, you can rush out and intervene.

If you're at a playground and your kid is on a DS, and there's a seedy guy on a bench also on a DS, if you didn't know any better you wouldn't think anything is wrong. At least knowing it's a possibility will help you when you see that guy on the bench.

Except that the seedy guy may not be in sight. He may be in his car over on the street. Or on a bench on the other side of the park. So suddenly anybody anywhere within radius of your child becomes a potential molester. Then you have parents trying to look over my shoulder to make sure I'm not putting the 'A/S/L o rly?' on their kid.

Then I shoot them.

Yea, that's where you hope the parents aren't crazied paranoid, which is the problem when it's presented in this sensational style.

Also I guess you just do you best to not look like a seedy child molestor.

Synthetic Orange

Heh, who was the PA forumer who sent a penis out to a random pictochatter who turned out to be an 8 year old girl? Anyone remember?

Unknown

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ViolentChemistry

jclast wrote:

Here's a crazy thought.

What the hell ever happened to parents reading the manual and calmly explaing to their children that they shouldn't PictoChat with anybody they don't know?

And I'm sorry, but the only place I see kids using PictoChat is in a classroom. Any other time that DS is open, the kid's playing a game.

I've never seen anyone use PictoChat at all.

SimBen

Synthetic Orange wrote:

Heh, who was the PA forumer who sent a penis out to a random pictochatter who turned out to be an 8 year old girl? Anyone remember?

If that girl was on PictoChat, she WANTED penis. That's science.

TubularLuggage

I love how the mom is so shocked when the news guy is able to get information from the kids.
"Oh no! They're able to talk to a man their parents let into their home!"

Also... how will a molester drive and use pictochat at the same time?

ViolentChemistry

Yar wrote:

It is a device capable of communication, yes, that they ought to be told.

They already are. It has a big "WiFi" logo on the box. The only thing the term "WiFi" refers to is a communication medium. If parents are retarded, the blame for their kids giving their home-address to pedophiles falls entirely on the parent, Nintendo has nothing to do with it.

Fireflash

Yep, the DS boxes can now have a spiffy sticker on them:

"You can improve your child-molesting potential by up to 33% !!!!!!!"

ViolentChemistry

Fireflash wrote:

Yep, the DS boxes can now have a spiffy sticker on them:

"You can improve your child-molesting potential by up to 33% !!!!!!!"

Man I'd like to see the methodology of the study that produces that number. "Well, most of the data points from the first three attempts at the study were zero, so we started weeding people out during the selection process if they hadn't been molested by a parent before, and gave both the kid and the parent a DS and instructed them how to use PictoChat and let them go at it for ten minutes. Then we asked them if they've ever been molested by people they've talked to on Pictochat."

.::IBA::.ZardoZ

OH NO!!!

THAT PHONE IN YOUR HOUSE COULD BE USED BY CHILD MOLESTERSSS>.....



OMG..... THAT PHONE IN YOUR CHILDS HAND COULD BE USED BY CHILD MOLESTERRROORREESSSSSS..

@!!!!!

Karf

mcdermott wrote:

Except that most parents nowadays seem to be crazy paranoid, and the media is doing their best to convince them that every third person that looks in their child's direction wants to ass-rape them.

That's the heart of the issue. Parents are so overwhelmed with this "information" and they don't know what to do anymore. The maternal instincts kick in on a mother, and they go all batshit protective on their kids.

And, come on. Any parents worth their weight in child rearing pounds have already talked to their kids about not talking to strangers. This kind of thing has always happened, and will never stop. Fear mongering it is a shit tactic.

It is a good thing that the report told parents to look into what they buy for their children, but jesus, they should know anyway and know before they buy it. You want less detached children? Pay attention to what they do, and take an interest in it for gods sake.