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Is online dating for real? How can anyone “meet” a stranger online and get attracted to them through a monitor?

This online dating phenomenon could have increased in recent years compared to a decade ago when dialups were the norm. As the use of broadband services like Streamyx, Celcom Broadband, Maxis Broadband, Izzi Net and U Mobile Broadband continue to grow, this online dating practice is sure to speed up as well. To add to the list, there is also P1 WiMAX which is starting to sweep the market (albeit not too quickly).

In the past, one can only rely on text messages on Internet Messengers to convey a message. Occasionally, they can also send a photo or two of themselves (or their friend’s) to the other person which may take a couple of minutes to complete the transfer.

Nowadays with the speed that broadband offers, the online dating experience has been improved. One can not only converse over the Internet with microphone and speaker, we can also see one another using webcams.

Here is where the problem begins. It is so often to read news of (probably not-so-tech-savvy) Internet lovers who got blackmailed with videos or photos of themselves doing the strip tease by their ex-Internet lover. The latest being report in The Star today, “Clerk blackmailed by Net friend“.

One sentence caught my attention though…

She said she did not want to continue the relationship due to communication problems between them, and reported the matter to department head Datuk Michael Chong as she did not want more girls to suffer as she has.

Was she referring to their “relationship” or Internet connection?