[whotheffknows]

I agree. As a woman working as a major minority in STEM as a software developer, and seeing this being advertised on HN means I'll probably be paired with a male if I used it.

Not only are these not appropriate, it's the kind of information you could give to a dangerous man to give them all the cards to know your deepest weaknesses and manipulate you. That trust has to be earned, and it turns vulnerable people into potential targets.

It almost makes me feel like you've never considered how awkward these questions could be for anyone but particularly off putting to any woman whose parents taught them how to be safe when talking to strangers online since they were little girls.

Like the AI app thing where two young men advertised and bragged you could snap someone's pictures and get their asl is an absolutely horrifying prospect for any women to consider having available to anyone on the streets.

Sometimes these types of concepts seem so poorly thought out and ignorant especially in light of the goals being centered around the deep and social nature of human beings, I have to often attirbute this to childish ignorance in my head and remember the feds have another thing they need to regulate on the list. Being inclusive and considering abused of people who are not white males in power is literally the center of attention for most of the world right now. Take it to heart in your everyday life.

There are plenty of other things you can discuss, even concept building ideas that don't center around personal ancedotes.

[Exuma]

You sound like you have a lot of fear... it's literally just a chat app. No one is forcing you to use it, no one is forcing you to answer questions. No one is stopping you from joining the app, you get a question you don't like, and you hit quit. Objectively, how does this affect you or reality outside of this awesome thing called choice?

Not to downplay what you're saying, or sound harsh, but people these days certainly are hitting a level of sensitivity that I cannot even fathom.

[whotheffknows]

The FBI wouldnt call it fear as much as they would call it multiple departments dedicated to busting child predators and other predatory behavior which is something the FBI works with almost every major video app to regulate, and take very seriously.

Your comments are not demeaning to me, they are demeaning to the severity of this issue worldwide.

I will forgive your comments and pure ignorance because I'm sure if you were educated on this topic at all in any kind of statistics based context you would have to be majorly sexist in addition to wrong.

Even zoom has recently used the excuse that they will not end to end encrypt video sessions for non paying users, because paying for it requires validation of identity through certain forms of payment and verification which can be tracked by law enforcement, because unverified accounts are the primary venue for the predatory behavior I speak of.

The previous CISO of Facebook who now works with Zoom on this very issue worked with the government to help catch child predators on Facebook as well and currently is a Professor at Stanford researching safety of specifically these types of chat apps. I'm quite sure these questions would be on the list of recommendations the FBI would encourage you not to ask, but if you feel so strongly I'm wrong about this I would encourage you to reach out to the world leaders on cybersecurity and the FBI and NSA on global efforts to reduce the kind of predatory behavior these questions invites.

I'm going to be ignorant and presumatory assume you're a man, and also ask you to please educate yourself on this topic before/if you have children. You'll be a much better parent.

[Exuma]

If you are referring to kids, and NOT yourself (as an adult), then the context of your comment makes more sense.

[feross]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I think you raise a great point that women are more likely to be targets of harassment than men on the internet. I feel strongly that women should feel safe on the internet.

If you try the app right now, you'll find many women from Saudi Arabia currently using it (a Saudi celebrity tweeted it yesterday). I noticed several women who were using the app for hours but hiding their camera with a finger. Based on that user behavior, I'm building an audio-only option so women who feel the way you do will hopefully feel more comfortable.

[whotheffknows]

Thank you so much for acknowledging my feedback. I strongly encourage you to reach out to security consulting firms and get multiple blind reviews to vet the work. Video chat apps are tricky but they can be improved for the betterment of everyone. They are expensive but cheaper than lawsuits with the government. The least you can do here is educate yourself on the legal risk the owner of the company assumes with this technology and work on identity verification of some sort.

And I'm really excited to see the demographic using your app and I'm really glad I can help. What you are doing is great, and great leaders surround themselves with diverse people who have constructive feedback, so it's great to see that quality in you. I'm excited to see where this goes.

[adreamingsoul]

Thank you for sharing your perspective.