Online safety for performers

[AshleyMarks]

I made a page on Tumblr specifically geared toward the safety of performers.
If anyone has any other useful info to submit, please do so via the submit feature and I will review it and post it. This is to help newcomers with understanding how to protect themselves online.
http://mercedeslive.tumblr.com/safety

 

[Anonymous]

Great advice, AshleyHaven! :thumbleft:

One thing I wanted to comment on, and it's the statement below:

"If you feel uncomfortable about people recording you, stalking you, and your family possibly finding out if they don’t already know, THEN CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU!!!!!"

Well, it's normal for a cam model to be uncomfortable with those things. It doesn't mean that camming is not for her. It just means that she has to accept those conditions if she wishes to proceed.

Now if she says "OMG, if any of those things happen to me, my life would be totally ruined!," then I think the statement "CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU" would apply.

 

[Maniac]

It is nice what you are doing A. It all made sense to me. Too many models risk their security through simple mistakes.

There was an especially malicious member named Mitchel a few years back who used to blackmail models after collecting their real names. He used to create websites naming the model or her associates from her studio along with pvt footage. He was a particular nuisance due to his technical knowledge, but even he was stopped/ restricted eventually. Models should be cautious but never fearful, knowledge in this case is power.

Did you have any preventative security, such as marking all material you put on cam for extra protection from theft.
Suggest your next Tumblr be on removing/ tracking stolen material, should it happen.

 

[UncleThursday]

Great advice, AshleyHaven! :thumbleft:

One thing I wanted to comment on, and it's the statement below:

"If you feel uncomfortable about people recording you, stalking you, and your family possibly finding out if they don’t already know, THEN CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU!!!!!"

Well, it's normal for a cam model to be uncomfortable with those things. It doesn't mean that camming is not for her. It just means that she has to accept those conditions if she wishes to proceed.

Now if she says "OMG, if any of those things happen to me, my life would be totally ruined!," then I think the statement "CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU" would apply.

The danger is always there. I joke models record me sleeping on my cam all the time.

But if you can't deal with the fact that, yes, someone out there is potentially going to record you for some reason (either for personal use or to share with the world), then camming is not for you. Just keep an eye out for videos of you if it happens, let the site admins know if you find any so they can send a DMCA notice (remember, the SITE owns the copyright on the video, not the model), and just make sure your skin is thick enough to deal with it if it ever happens.

Not every model will be recorded. But the chance is there for all models, no matter what site.

EDIT: If you sell your own videos that you make when not on the site you are working for, then you own the copyright on those and can send out your own DMCA notices. But, be aware that those videos, too, can wind up plastered all over the web. I remember when ChloeLamb stopped camming on MFC... the rumor was that she didn't realize that all the videos she sold of her and her boyfriend at the time fucking made it onto tube sites and torrents; and when she found out she got mortified and quit camming. As to how true this is, I don't know. But it is also fair warning, if you sell videos, the chance of them showing up online without your consent is just as high.

 

[DanniShimmers]

Regarding secure passwords and remembering them, I would like to suggest Keepass.

It generates secure passwords to a number of criteria you set, including case sensitive/alpha-numeric/special characters and a specified length. It stores them in an encrypted database. You don't have to remember passwords and the software will copy/paste passwords and usernames for you so that you don't have to worry about keyloggers, either.

 

[AshleyMarks]

Great advice, AshleyHaven! :thumbleft:

One thing I wanted to comment on, and it's the statement below:

"If you feel uncomfortable about people recording you, stalking you, and your family possibly finding out if they don’t already know, THEN CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU!!!!!"

Well, it's normal for a cam model to be uncomfortable with those things. It doesn't mean that camming is not for her. It just means that she has to accept those conditions if she wishes to proceed.

Now if she says "OMG, if any of those things happen to me, my life would be totally ruined!," then I think the statement "CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU" would apply.

I will change that part. Thanks for the advice!!!
Changed to:

Camming has its perks and also has its downfalls. I wrote this page to help out new or unknowing models to showcase the possible dangers of camming. I am glad to be the messenger. It can help you to decide whether you would like to be a cam model or not.

I am adding the password link that Digital Sweetie provided.

 

[AshleyMarks]

Great advice, AshleyHaven! :thumbleft:

One thing I wanted to comment on, and it's the statement below:

"If you feel uncomfortable about people recording you, stalking you, and your family possibly finding out if they don’t already know, THEN CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU!!!!!"

Well, it's normal for a cam model to be uncomfortable with those things. It doesn't mean that camming is not for her. It just means that she has to accept those conditions if she wishes to proceed.

Now if she says "OMG, if any of those things happen to me, my life would be totally ruined!," then I think the statement "CAMMING IS NOT FOR YOU" would apply.

I will change that part. Thanks for the advice!!!
Changed to:

Camming has its perks and also has its downfalls. I wrote this page to help out new or unknowing models to showcase the possible dangers of camming. I am glad to be the messenger. It can help you to decide whether you would like to be a cam model or not.

I am adding the password link that Digital Sweetie provided.

Thank you everyone for giving me advice and helping me out. Thank you for the compliments. It is good info for cam peeps to know. I felt compelled to do this after seeing a couple on Chaturbate have their personal info blasted all over the place. I could not just let this happen to other people. Knowledge is power, so they say. At least people who happen to land on my blog page that are considering webcam work will have the knowledge to help them make a more informed decision.
Sorry about the double post!

 

[LadyLuna]

I would've just changed "If you feel uncomfortable about" to "If you are terrified by the idea that"

because if it is terrifying, then yes, they shouldn't be camming.

Also, just thought of one more thing:

-Members will throw out random common names to see your reaction. Don't give them one, even if it happens to be your actual name!

Names they've tried on me (all forms of the name, where appropriate. Ex: Elizabeth- Beth, Liz, Lizzy...):
Heather, Isabelle, Elizabeth, Candy, Kate, Amanda, and more

 

[AshleyMarks]

I would've just changed "If you feel uncomfortable about" to "If you are terrified by the idea that"

because if it is terrifying, then yes, they shouldn't be camming.

Also, just thought of one more thing:

-Members will throw out random common names to see your reaction. Don't give them one, even if it happens to be your actual name!

Names they've tried on me (all forms of the name, where appropriate. Ex: Elizabeth- Beth, Liz, Lizzy...):
Heather, Isabelle, Elizabeth, Candy, Kate, Amanda, and more

Thank you. I am adding this now.

 

[DanniShimmers]

I've also had them do this with high schools.

 

[Rose]

I've also had them do this with high schools.

Surprisingly so have I. I never went to high school and have had quite a few people insist that I went to school with them. Just goes to show that some people are a little unhinged out there and can be desperate to weasel their way into your life.

 

[LilyMarie]

Also, just thought of one more thing:

-Members will throw out random common names to see your reaction. Don't give them one, even if it happens to be your actual name!

Names they've tried on me (all forms of the name, where appropriate. Ex: Elizabeth- Beth, Liz, Lizzy...):
Heather, Isabelle, Elizabeth, Candy, Kate, Amanda, and more

The same goes for cities.
Some people who are new to my room and learn that I'm from a rather big city in Germany, really like to start with the annoying You must be from Berlin! / Hamburg! / Munich! / Cologne! / Frankfurt! / Stuttgart!, and they keep guessing, like there's no tomorrow. :shock:

This can be scary at first, especially if they happen to mention the city you actually live in.
When people do that, it's important to stay calm throughout all the guessing until they stop, and it's best to just not say anything, or to say no to each city. If they don't stop, ban them. You don't have to put yourself through that kind of stress.

 

[loveyougipsy]

I'm not sure if this is useful to add to the Photos section of your page to go with the file renaming advice.

The website www.tineye.com performs reverse searches on images. It can find images uploaded to websites even if they've been renamed, cropped, resized, or modified in other ways. The company behind the technology used on the site specialise in image recognition and search software so the matching methods don't rely on things like EXIF data but on the actual image.

It can provide the ability to quickly see if any of your photos have be uploaded onto any of the websites they have crawled.

There is also a plugin for most web browsers which allows you to perform a search for an image directly from a webpage.

 

[loveyougipsy]

It's early morning so please forgive the 2nd post. EXIF data on images is easily removed in Windows 7.

Right click on the image you want to remove the EXIF data from and select properties.

On the details tab you can see the metadata/EXIF data that is stored in the file. Windows 7 has a link below all the information to 'Remove Properties and Personal Information'

You can then either create a copy of the image with all the data removed or remove specific/all data from the original image.

 

[SexyBlue137]

I made a page on Tumblr specifically geared toward the safety of performers.
If anyone has any other useful info to submit, please do so via the submit feature and I will review it and post it. This is to help newcomers with understanding how to protect themselves online.
http://mercedeslive.tumblr.com/safety

Thank you soooo much for this info!!! I'm pretty new to camming and this really helped!!!!