Xbox Live friendship leads to molestation charge

[*NormalGamer*]

www.gamespot.com/news/6141940.html

Xbox Live friendship leads to molestation charge

Santa Rosa man arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old he met through Microsoft's online service.
In the Northern California community of Santa Rosa, police have arrested Ronnie Brendan Watts, 26, on suspicion of "performing a lewd act on a child and sending harmful matter to seduce a minor," reports the online branch of Santa Rosa's The Press Democrat newspaper.

Last fall, the two met through Xbox Live, an online gaming service which lets players play games together while talking to each other in real time, using headsets. Watts and the unnamed boy eventually swapped e-mail information, and moved on to communicating through instant messaging and video conferencing. The two allegedly exchanged explicit videos of each other before they agreed to meet in person at a local park, where the lewd act may have taken place, says The Press Democrat.

Sexual predation is nothing new to the online community. According to a poll conducted by the Polly Klaas Foundation, an organization with the goal to prevent child abduction, approximately 25 percent of 8- to 18-year-olds surveyed have talked about sex with a stranger online.

Watts is currently out on bail pending further investigation.

By Tim Surette -- GameSpot
Posted Jan 5, 2006 5:00 pm PT

[Pilgrim John]

(T.T)
8- to 18-year-olds? Talking about that with strangers? And from the article, it appeared the minor welcomed this kind of abuse.
The world is truly going to end...

[Jason-RN]

Unfortunately, this was bound to happen... The Internet always leads to stuff like this.

[Pilgrim John]

admin said:

Unfortunately, this was bound to happen... The Internet always leads to stuff like this.

Now that just makes me worry about the Rev's online capabilities...
Hopefully, they'll just use the Friend Code system so this kind of crap gets cut down considerably.

[Justin-RN]

zer0 said:

admin said:

Unfortunately, this was bound to happen... The Internet always leads to stuff like this.

Now that just makes me worry about the Rev's online capabilities...
Hopefully, they'll just use the Friend Code system so this kind of crap gets cut down considerably.

Eh, any online system runs this risk, friend code or not. I'm all in favor of a universal game tag or even friend code for the Revolution, I hate having a new code for each new game like the DS requires. It really doesn't prevent much, as people typically give out codes to people they've met online through other sites and messenging systems.

People are sick, and stuff like this might just happen. It's unfortunate, but true.

[*NormalGamer*]

zer0 said:

(T.T)
8- to 18-year-olds? Talking about that with strangers? And from the article, it appeared the minor welcomed this kind of abuse.
The world is truly going to end...

It's sad to see something like this happen. Even in the online world. V_V

zer0 said:

admin said:

Unfortunately, this was bound to happen... The Internet always leads to stuff like this.

Now that just makes me worry about the Rev's online capabilities...
Hopefully, they'll just use the Friend Code system so this kind of crap gets cut down considerably.

@ *referring to bold*

Yeah, it's good to see that Nintendo brought up system like the 'friend code' system to their service. It's definitely an answer to that problem. Now people will have to take responsibility on making friends all over the world or regionally. I hope to see it on Rev. games with Wi-Fi. Though, this answer probably may not be enough to prevent this problem.

[Pilgrim John]

Maybe not.