CU is Meant to be Fun But What If....?

CU IS MEANT TO BE FUN, BUT WHAT IF.......?????????

I would think that most, if not all of us are on Cuseeme for some kind of fun, prurient or otherwise!!! What if, instead of seeing the naked woman or man we came to see, we see something that is NOT fun. A case of domestic violence for example. Someone threatening to commit suicide. A crime about to be committed. All these things HAVE happened, and will probably happen again on Cuseeme.

If one chooses to get "involved" how does one attempt to get help for someone on Cuseeme. Anonymity is a welcome element on CU. If not for anonymity, who WOULD to the things they do on CU?????? How does one begin to pierce the veil of anonymity when one is attempting to deal with a CU "emergency"???? Here are a few suggestions.

If the person who needs help is on ICQ, check their information. Many people list their hometown, phone number or even last names!!! Once you get that info, call their hometown police department. The Police WILL take it seriously!!!! Other on line chat programs also have directories with listings of personal info.

If there is no useful personal information, get the person's IP address. That address is a 4 part numerical address separated by three periods, such as 123.456.789.012. You can get that info by clicking the last window on the right of the person's CU window, or by right clicking their names in the Participant list. This applies to Windows 95, if you have a Mac, better buy a PC!!!!

Once you have the address, what do you do???? Well, if you are not in a hurry, go to the following web site: http://interNIC.net/. There is a wealth of information about searching for people on the Internet. However, this is a bit of a complex web page and usually you ARE in a hurry. Go to this web site run by Streak: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/cgi-bin/nph-cgiwrap/streak/scan?command=lookup. From the information you can get from this search, you may be able to get information as to the users home town. This is especially true if it is a small local Internet Service Provider. If it's AOL, then if you are a member of AOL, look it up there, or if not, find someone who has AOL.

A lot of this is common sense. There are several Phone Books on the Internet. Just use the many available search engines!!!

The most important thing to do when confronted by an emergency on CU is to decide to GET INVOLVED!!! You actually may be saving someone from serious physical injury or worse! September 1997