I wonder what the age distribution is for people using Chatroulette? Also, is it different for men and women? 2. So if there’s nowhere for you to take those skills, one often turns to hacking. As I said in my story, oil, gas, mineral extraction, etc.-not start-ups-fund nearly two-thirds of the Russian federal budget. The hi-tech sector, though booming, is still relatively small. The other part of the answer is that there are still relatively few opportunities for kids with programming skills in Russia. A notable example was when a major hacker was traced to the Philippines and had to be let go because hacking was not a crime in the Philippines. Moreover, it’s hard to get any international agreement on what constitutes a crime, or a punishment. Hacking is a highly lucrative, fast-evolving business-at least for those that do it for money, and it doesn’t seem that Andrey was-and governments and legal systems tend to move slowly. The first, more global answer is that this is a legal area that has yet to catch up to the technology. How come he’s not in jail? Why isn’t hacking punished the way fraud or embezzlement are in the nonvirtual world? Unless I misunderstood your piece, he broke into private email accounts, stole material from his school’s computer system for the purpose of cheating, and brought down commercial sites for the fun of it, probably causing business owners significant losses. Here’s my question: Andrey Ternovskiy may be an innovator, but he started out as a hacker.

QUESTION FROM JOAN WARNER: Thank you for the terrific story particularly your analysis of what makes Chatroulette so compelling. Then as reality hit-meetings, the need to work and improve the site, the loneliness of turning 18 without your family-he cooled to it and told me that America is just like everywhere else-boring. At first, and especially after he got to San Francisco, he seemed to swoon a bit. It was also especially interesting to me to hear how he was adjusting to America given his high hopes for the place. JULIA IOFFE: Yes, I’ve tried to stay in touch with Andrey, partially because it’s hard to just let go of an interesting person you get to know so well by reporting a story.

Julia ioffe parents