I Better Quit Letting My Daughter Play With My Nintendo DS...

...because she could get molested. EVERYBODY PANIC!!11!!

I'm with Ken on this one: Parents need to be more involved in their children's lives and quit blaming technology for all of society's wrongs. And the boneheaded media who uses scare tactics to pummel fear into already paranoid parents need to be slapped as well and quit doing stories like this.

The story is about the Nintendo DS's PictoChat program, which is a simple little way to send simple message between systems. But it has a range of about 70 feet in ideal conditions. If a child molester is within 70 feet of your child, your kid's Nintendo DS should be the least of your worries.

The US Postal Service probably carries letters from molestors every day. But would we shut down the postal service? Not in a million years. Just because something can be used for nefarious deeds doesn't mean it always is and if you live life in fear of this kind of stuff instead of just getting involved in your child's life, than you are the problem, not a entertaining little game system. If you're going to buy a toy for your kids of this type, do yourself a favor and read the instruction manual, and talk things over with your child. Earn their trust, otherwise that 70 feet will be closer than you think.
</rant>

Link via Digg which has a bunch of great comments, too.

Speaking of my Nintendo DS, however, I am having a fun time playing it. I don't get to play with it much (my wife enjoys it as much as I do), but I'm slowly progressing along in Super Mario Brothers. I also plan on hacking into the thing sometime.

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