Observer Posted September 25, 2003 MSN CHATROOMS AXED Computer giant Microsoft is to close the majority of its internet chatrooms to stop paedophiles preying on children. It will axe all its chatrooms run by its MSN websites in 34 countries while others will be more tightly monitored or operate on a subscription only basis. Gillian Kent, MSN UK director, said: "As a responsible leader we felt it necessary to make these changes because online chat services are increasingly being misused. "These changes will help protect MSN users from spam and inappropriate communication." The move follows a string of disturbing cases in which paedophiles have met young victims in chatrooms and groomed them for sexual abuse. A recent survey of the way nine to 16-year-olds used the internet also exposed the dangers posed by chatrooms to children. It found 20% of the age group are regular users of chatrooms, that 25% have requested a meeting with someone they have met in a chatroom and that 10% had actually gone on to meet up with a stranger. While many children's charities and the Government funded Internet Watch Foundation have welcomed the news, some of MSN's competitors remain sceptical of the companies true motivation. Freeserve, the UK's largest internet service provider, accuse Microsoft of being unwilling to spend on policing its chatrooms. A spokesman said: "All this is doing is forcing users to go elsewhere, potentially to non-moderated chatrooms with little or no protection." On the subject of policing, the company added: "It sounds to us like MSN simply doesn't want to make this investment and we are not sure how this move sits with with their web based Messenger tool which is of course a chat based service." MSN will shut its free, unmoderated chat services around the globe on October 14. A service will continue for free in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Japan but the contents of the chatrooms will be monitored. The US will run a subscription-only service which requires users to disclose their credit card details. This news item is courtesy of http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12802474,00.html I congratulate MSN for taking this step - hopefully others will follow. There are far too many children around the world who fall foul of these predators! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuCkY Posted September 25, 2003 Thats not a bad idea but what about aLL the other providers that dont have the same securities Like msn did...i mean there are others far worse. :confused: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nuune Posted September 25, 2003 who would give a damn hooligan craap about msn chat,but i have seen some people crying for the shutdown of msn chat, as lucky said,i don't think other providers of chat will have the same security level as msn chat,they r doomed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TechBoy Posted September 25, 2003 (Thats not a bad idea) !! well I think its a bad idea to close chat rooms specially in Middle east , Europe , Africa and South America where ppl are using this service and it become an everyday way of communication for friends and family, around the worldreguarly !! and since Aol chat sucks ( and thats not a secret !! ) so I dont think ppl will take it as an alternative .. yes Nune I do care .. so just becoz u dont use it doesnt necessary mean its unwanted !! ...and am not crying ok !! :mad: ...Sniff Sniff !! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3zma1L Posted September 26, 2003 .... a string of disturbing cases in which paedophiles have met young victims in chatrooms and groomed them for sexual abuse.. I wish paltalk chat server is also closing where lots of abuses take place! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rudy-Diiriye Posted October 5, 2003 ms closing they chat rooms!i dont believe that! the whole ms mentality is to dominate internet! i believe this just spin to stray ppl where they r going throught law suites! have u seen w2003 yet! .net will sink so many companies that dominated interent servers! companies like sun, novell already lost to ms, so with .net, c-sharp libs & ASPI, no one can touch ms! they r todays web masters! this was their answer to linux plateforms that dominate internet server. this was bill gates dream since he introduced ie! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conscious Manipulation Posted October 13, 2003 as long as they don't shut down MSN Messenger, then I'm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
