Stickam

Type	Privately held company
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, USA
Key people	Wataru Takahashi, Owner Hideki Kishioka, CEO
Owner	Advanced Video Communications, Inc.
Type of site	Social networking, streaming video broadcasting
Advertising	Media Mayhem Corporation[1]
Available in	3 languages
Launched	February 2005
Current status	Active

Stickam is a social networking website that features user-submitted pictures, audio, video, and most prominently, live streaming video chat. Additionally, it allows users to embed their streaming webcam feeds into other web sites via a Flash player.^[2][3] The name "Stickam" refers to this abitity to "stick" a webcam feed onto another site.^[3][4][5] Stickam was launched in 2005 and is operated by Advanced Video Communications, an Internet communications company.^[2]

Contents 1 Features 1.1 Live Streams 1.1.1 Social 1.1.2 Entertainers 1.2 Group Chat 1.2.1 Chat Rooms 1.2.2 Debate Rooms 2 Security 3 Ownership 4 News 5 References 6 External links 6.1 Articles

[edit] Features

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[edit] Live Streams

[edit] Social

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[edit] Entertainers

An entertainer is a user who is featured and promoted by Stickam. Being an entertainer allows one to be featured which will attract more people to one's live stream. Entertainers can have a profile banner, whereas a regular user cannot. To become an entertainer, one has to apply and give reasons to why you want to become one. Entertainers may be watched by Stickam administrators the first few times they go live.

[edit] Group Chat

Live chat allows the user to display their webcam live feed over the internet. The user has the ability to choose who can view their live stream. In the actual stream room, there are 7 camera spots. The largest one is for the owner of the chat. The other six spots are for six other people to stream their live webcam feed. The live chat also allows users to chat through a chat box similar to what you would see on any regular chat site. The main user can "kick" or ban people who are disruptive or threatening. The main user also has the power to make people moderators which are trusted people who can kick people if the main user is unable to do so.

[edit] Chat Rooms

Chat rooms are for many users to chat in, instead of a live with only 7 camera spots. It allows 12 people to stream live. Chat rooms have many of the same properties that live chats do.

[edit] Debate Rooms

Debate rooms are set up like chat rooms but they are made for people to debate a certain topic. Unlike chat rooms, these rooms are not open at all times.

[edit] Security

Stickam has a team of administrators who monitor site activity and deal with reports of abuse. To join Stickam you have to be at least 14 years of age. Stickam allows you to create your own privacy settings.

[edit] Ownership

Stickam is a division of Advanced Video Communications (AVC), a company founded in 2004 and specializing in internet video streaming technologies.^[6][7] Stickam was launched by AVC in February 2005.^[2] In addition to Stickam, AVC's products and services include a video conferencing service and LiveLine, a low-cost home surveillance system based on IP camera technology.^[7][8] Advanced Video Communications is a privately held company^[2][9] owned and managed by Japanese entrepreneur Wataru Takahashi.^[10] The CEO of the company is Hideki Kishioka.^[2]

In 2007 and 2008, the New York Times reported that in addition to AVC, Takahashi was also owner of DTI Services, an amalgam of adult websites aimed at the Japanese market.^[10][11][12] DTI adult websites include DXLive, EXshot, and JGirl Paradise and contain content ranging from adult manga to sexually-explicit webcam shows to uncensored Japanese adult video.^[10][11] The 2007 article also reports that the sites were based in the US due to Japanese laws restricting certain types of nudity.^[10]

According to Alex Becker, who was a vice-president at Stickam for four months in 2007 before leaving the company, Stickam shares office space, employees, and computer systems with the DTI adult websites. Becker was critical of the practice of sharing employees between Stickam and the adult sites and states that he left because he thought the company was not doing enough to protect teenage users of the site from sexual predators and other dangers. A spokesman for Stickam denied Becker's allegations that Stickam was negligent about protecting its users, and also stated that Becker's claims were "retaliatory", motivated by a disagreement over a contract with the company, and the stating that after leaving AVC, Becker was working on a site that would be in competition with Stickam.^[10]

[edit] News

Johnathon Richard Hock, 20, a former Stickam Entertainer was charged with rape, which he broadcasted live on the site. On February 26, 2009, Hock allegedly setup his laptop webcam and had sex with an unconscious female that he had begun dating two weeks prior. The footage was uploaded to another website, and was then brought to the attention of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Hock was arrested June 1 in reference to the assault.^[13]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Stickam
• Stickam Japan
• Stickam China
• Stickam Twitter
• Advanced Video Communications

[edit] Articles

• "Young Turn to Web Sites Without Rules" by Brad Stone, New York Times, January 2, 2007.
• "Stickam: A window into anyone's world" by David Sarno, Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2007.
• "Identity Crisis: Are You Being Cyberstalked?" by David Kushner, Spin, March 25, 2009. (page view)