Barry Eggers, venture capitalist, was amazingly foolish and naive in response to finding his children and their classmates at St. Francis High School “giggling over the new Snapchat app,” which allows users to easily exchange messages with videos and photographs that automatically destruct after a few minutes (“High school makes $24 million from Snap IPO,” March 4, Associated Press).
Smart parents will read Marc Goodman’s “Future crimes” (pages 138-139) and about Snapchat’s “service that allows users to send selfies (often involving nudity) that purportedly disappear in just a few seconds after arriving on the recipient’s phone. In 2014, Snap was hacked, compromising nearly five million Snap user accounts, publishing a database of usernames and phone numbers on a hacker web site. Worse, it was revealed that Snap’s foremost feature — the ability to send naked photographs that would self-destruct within ten seconds — was flawed. Images could still be retrieved, resulting in thousands of photos being posted on the internet and reposted on revenge-porn sites.”
Eggers may be a hero, raising money for his favorite school, but he’s opened up the students to immoral purposes and exploitation, not only destructive to their souls but to future job opportunities.
