:: Thiruvananthapuram City Police ::

Thiruvananthapuram, 04^th May 2010 : The increasing use of Technology, brings with it new challenges and threats. With technology getting smaller and smarter, the misuse of gadgets is simultaneously increasing. The cases of pinhole cameras concealed in Hotel rooms, toilets and trial rooms of Clothing stores etc are not new. In many such incidents, the individuals are not coming forward to report such crimes either due to the lack of awareness or their perception that such crimes would not be given due importance or the victims want to avoid legal and other unwanted hassles. In a Society, where crime is in rise at a faster pace than security systems, there people certainly need more protection to sustain a healthy life.

Here a relevant question arises as to whether our women are safe as we presume?, It is believed that at least two Videos or MMS involving Indian women in compromising position and love acts are uploaded daily in internet. The web sites, forums, blogs which upload such videos have nearly millions of viewers every day.

The most famous format available online is the MMS (Multimedia message). These are videos made by cell phone cameras. The other one is Webcam videos where Couples or women exposing themselves in video chats such as yahoo,msn,skype etc. The most dangerous one is Voyeuristic videos, which capture videos without the knowledge of the people video-graphed.

MMS Video is the most popular one and is always in demand. Young couples are often filming themselves in cell phone camera. Most of these videos are taken as private video but end up in internet. In most of the videos, the women are persuaded by the male partner to be filmed with promise that it would be deleted immediately. Some time women are emotionally blackmailed to be filmed. MMS videos also include videos taken by school/college students. Such videos are taken by the male in a motive to circulate among their classmates to show off his adventures.

Popular trend is that guys take their lovers to lonely public places such as parks, parking lots, beaches and make them expose in public places and capture those videos. Some of videos are taken by the male partner without the knowledge of the female partner or while she is asleep.

Web Cam Videos helps lovers to chat in long distance. Video chat is popular among lovers to see each others faces every day. What most people don’t know is that such video chats can be recorded using softwares (Hypercam etc) and can be telecasted online using softwares (Manycam etc). Popular trend among the lovers these days is to expose themselves to each other in webcam and satisfy each others fantasies through the webcam.

Some Girls expose themselves in webcam in the video chat with strangers thinking that no one will ever come to know about it.

Voyeuristic Videos are taken by individuals as part of organized crimes. The hot spots for such videos are trail rooms in stores, hotel rooms, rest rooms in universities and schools. Added to these are videos made by individuals filming neighbors when they are careless or in a exposed state. Most common video being filmed are women’s bathing or changing dress. This may be done through window pane from terrace in the opposite side.

Top angle and under skirt videos of women are taken with cell phones by guys in bus, train and crowded places without the knowledge of the women. Internet cafes use hidden cameras to capture couples who browse inside the closed cabinet. Internet cafe with closed cabinets have become haven for lover in recent past.

Who uploads such videos? The mafias which were earlier running the porn industry has diverted the attention to acquiring such videos. Men usually have the habit to record webcam videos through software, so that they can see their lover in the video and relive themselves from the accumulated lust. Guys in school and college who film the video are mostly exhibitionist who want to show that they had a passionate session with fellow student to their close mates. It becomes a chain mail within minutes. Men who are having affairs with married women or ex-lovers have the tendency to record such videos and upload it in internet.

The People jealous of colleagues and fellow students, take their videos in compromising position and posting videos online with a caption video of real slut with phone number, ID Card etc. Since mafia is involved, hardwares and cell phones which are given for service are checked with recovery softwares. These softwares can be used to recover even the deleted files from phones/hard disk. When people carelessly leave such private videos in computer and mobile phones without any protection, the friends who have access to such devices take it as chance and forward such videos to others, which within minutes becomes a big chain mail.

There are set of people who pose off as different people online and try to seduce middle aged women and young girls online to expose themselves in the webcam. People from these groups also hire call girls and pose off as couples and try to engage other real couples to show their webcams where they expose.

Some consequences: There may be chances of suicide when unmarried girls come to know that their private videos have been uploaded online.

MMS video capture has led to some people take videos of women in compromising position and later blackmailing them into sexual activates. This can happen with boss- employee, Teacher-student, guy and ex-lover, people having extra martial affairs. Such videos are making rounds online. Most of the women filmed are minors. Dynamics of Porn industry have changed so rapidly that when you are careless, your video would be uploaded online without you having a clue that you were filmed and being watched by millions of eyes. Even the wealthiest person or the person from most conservative upbringing can end up being watched as porn star by millions of people.

How to safe guard yourself:

Wear clothes to cover you enough when seen from a top angle or when you bend down. Always be careful with your dressing.
Keep your love acts only between closed walls. Never bring that to a park, pub, coffee shop.
Look around for pinhole cameras while you enter trail rooms, public rest-rooms , hotel rooms, Changing Room, Swimming Pool etc.
It doesn’t matter how much trust worthy your partner is, always say no to being filmed either in compromising position or in love act. Even if you can trust your partner to death, there are still ways these videos could land up in internet without your partner’s knowledge.
Don’t try to be adventurous to venture out for video chat with strangers.
Once a video is uploaded in internet – there is no way that it can be taken out of it.
In case where you come to know of your video being uploaded in internet, be prompt to complain it to Police Cyber Cell. The Cyber Police have enough rights to ban these websites.
So it is always better to follow few precautions than falling a victim.
Your dignity is in your hands. Please take care of it.
Out of your 10 male friends, 9 of them are surely watching these videos in regular basis. If your friend gets influenced by such videos, you are not as safe as you think.
Put your fingertip on the mirror in the trial room. If there is a gap between your finger and the reflection, it is a genuine mirror. If there is no gap, it is a two-way mirror, which means someone on the other side can see you.