Jenni in the Shower
News Item (cadieux@librarybook.com)
Wed, 17 Sep 1997 21:25:12 -0400
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 21:25:12 -0400
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19970917212753.007dfdc0@librarybook.com>
From: News Item <cadieux@librarybook.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <conntech>
Subject: Jenni in the Shower
WASHINGTON--Jennifer Ringley is her own paparazzo.
Perched above her bedroom in her Washington, D.C., apartment, a camera
snaps her picture every day, 24 hours a day, and then transmits it onto her
JenniCam Web site.
"The camera started looking at the life of a normal college girl, and now
it's become the 'JenniCam'(http://www.boudoir.org) that is looking at the
life of a celebrity," the 21-year-old Web designer said.
Most of the time, the photos are anything but thrilling--Jenni working on
her computer, Jenni talking on the phone. But sometimes those who log on
get a more tantalizing image--Jenni changing clothes or getting out of the
shower.
Since JenniCam started out of her Dickinson College dorm room in
Pennsylvania 1-1/2 years ago, fans have erected Web pages in honor of the
woman one site calls "the queen of cyberspace." Computer users talk to each
other online about JenniCam on chat rooms, and hundreds email her every day.
"Without the camera, I probably would have always been a nobody," Ringley
said.
But most of the fan Web sites are devoted to pictures of Jenni. Some
declare themselves "clean" sites, featuring snaps of a fully clothed Jenni
in innocent poses. Others, however, feature nude shots of Jenni, and she is
not shy of having sex in front of the camera.
Ringley said the pictures out there are part of the "project" that is
JenniCam, to give a person a window into someone's private world, virtually
live. "The point is that it's a real person doing real things."
There are other "Webcam" sites similar to Jenni's, but many claim that
Ringley is the one who started it all.
All around the world, cameras connected to the Internet take pictures that
anyone with a mouse and a modem can see. Most of the cameras are outdoors.
For example, computer users can check out what is happening on Venice
Beach, California, on the Beach Cam or watch the weather change on Mount
Everest.
About 5,500 people pay $15 each year to be JenniCam subscribers who can
receive updated images every three minutes. It costs more than $3,000 to
run the site each month, according to Ringley.
"Guests" can receive a new image every 30 minutes for free. There are about
75 men for every woman who subscribes.
Ringley noted the experience has improved her self-image. "In the last year
and a half I have gotten so much more confident. So what if I'm fat? Who
cares if I have a bad hair day?"
Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
September 17, 1997, 3:20 p.m. PT
Edited (slightly) for ConnTech. Full text at:
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,14343,00.html