Microsoft to close down chatrooms.

[Mr Webname]

Microsoft has announced that it will be pulling the plug on all of its Internet Chatrooms due to pressure from parents concerned about paedophile activity - cutoff date believed to be October 14th.
Only chatrooms Microsoft will keep going to be in New Zealand and Brazil, where extensive monitoring is said to be planned and the US and Canada where subscription and identity checking are planned:-

http://groups.msn.com/editorial/en-gb/content/chat.htm

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=446426
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32992.html

 

[DeCal]

I think its a 100% Proven solution to stop peodophilies in chat rooms, close them down!
May a better way for them would have been to charge for the service of being able to chat, that way they have peoples details and maybe use bots to boot people out.
Can't believe i'm approving something MS are doing..... What is this world coming to!

 

[beatz]

Oh man - so will they stop selling their software as well because criminals and paedophiles might use it for what they are doing ?

That's like to stop selling cars because criminals use them as well.

The "concerned parents" mafia starts going on my nerves really.

 

[zouzas]

Originally posted by Mr Webname
Microsoft has announced that it will be pulling the plug on all of its Internet Chatrooms due to pressure from parents concerned about paedophile activity - cutoff date believed to be October 14th.
Only chatrooms Microsoft will keep going to be in New Zealand and Brazil, where extensive monitoring is said to be planned and the US and Canada where subscription and identity checking are planned:-

http://groups.msn.com/editorial/en-gb/content/chat.htm

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=446426
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32992.html

K I D S . U S & www.xbox.kids.us to the rescue :cheeky:

 

[Mr Webname]

Welcome back zouzas.

 

[zouzas]

Originally posted by Mr Webname
Welcome back zouzas.

thanks Mr.Webname:cheeky:

 

[laskos]

yeah i agree close all chatrooms, one have subscription sections where full details are needed, and yahoo should follow suit ASAP.

As as for the comment from beatz, well what can i say..that is so so negative man..get a grip pedos should be hung not warned.

Good on microsoft, come on yahoo...

 

[beatz]

It's not negative - so far those "concerned" parents have been responsible for things like the new "inncocent domains" law, .kids.us, the chatroom thing and numerous other offline things in the past.

Even worse, every political party/lobby/politician as soon as they wanna push a new law try to connect it to some child abuse/pornography etc etc no matter if it makes sense or not.

The problem is, lots of people believe that crap.

 

[Mr Webname]

Sadly the evidence that links paedophile activity with Internet chatrooms is overwhelming. It is probably true that the ratio of paedophile activity in chatrooms to the rate of normal use is very small. However anything that reduces the risk to children has to be a good thing - the anonymous nature of current Internet chatrooms presents many major problems.
If the move towards closing them down succeeds in making them non-anonymous wherever they are available then that will be a good thing.
There should be no hiding place for those intent on paedophile activity!

 

[beatz]

Geez - are you trying to say chatrooms are used mainly by paedophiles ?!

What kind of nonsense story is that ?

Again, just because most criminals use cars should not result in cars to be forbidden from now on.

What's next - streets getting closed down because paedophiles are using them ? No more snail mail because paedophiles use mail to send their pictures or whatever ?

Man.

 

[Mr Webname]

Originally posted by beatz
Geez - are you trying to say chatrooms are used mainly by paedophiles ?!

What kind of nonsense story is that ?

Again, just because most criminals use cars should not result in cars to be forbidden from now on.

What's next - streets getting closed down because paedophiles are using them ? No more snail mail because paedophiles use mail to send their pictures or whatever ?

Man.

"It is probably true that the ratio of paedophile activity in chatrooms to the rate of normal use is very small. "

How is that possibly saying that chatrooms are mainly used by paedophiles????
Do you understand what "small" and "ratio" mean?

Your examples of car use and mail use have no possible bearing on what is happening in Internet chatrooms - I cannot understand why you seem to want to defend their freedom to carry on their evil activity. There is no problem in having to register/subscribe with identity checks in order to use chatrooms - young children can be very vulnerable and need protection - it's more important than the convenience of the majority.

 

[Spider]

young children can be very vulnerable and need protection


I agree but where are their parents? Why are they letting them use the internet without supervision? Computers have content advisories and programs to limit where your children go.

 

[Mr Webname]

Originally posted by Spider
young children can be very vulnerable and need protection


I agree but where are their parents? Why are they letting them use the internet without supervision? Computers have content advisories and programs to limit where your children go.

That is a very good point and the answer I would suggest is two-fold:
1) Parents who are irresponsible and don't care what their children are doing or what risks they are exposed to.
2) Parents who still do not know what potential hazards the Internet can present to snare their children and are oblivious to what their children are doing with their computers.

Both of these need attention by education and indeed by the authorities in extreme cases, however the fact that there are irresponsible or ill-informed parents does not alter the fact that society in general has a moral responsibility to do its utmost to protect its children.

 

[beatz]

That's my point: Where are their parents? It's THEIR job to monitor their kids, no one elses.

And no, i'm not defending the paedophiles rights, i am saying that a few irresponsible parents have the power to make Microsoft close down ALL their chatrooms - do you get it ?!

Meaning ALL MS chatroom users are affected - not just the child pervs.

And btw, i was referring to the "the evidence that links paedophile activity with Internet chatrooms is overwhelming" statement. Cuz what does it prove ? The evidence that links criminal activity with guns is overwhelming too - still the US has the most less restrictive gun laws in the world.

Strangely enough, the same people that cry for cyberpolice to "protect their children" are the ones that support free guns for everyone.

 

[Mr Webname]

It's everyone's responsibility to protect children.

 

[Spider]

Then we might as well kill off the internet, turn the tv off, shut down all the schools in the world and home teach our kids. We can't leave the house because it is everyone's responsibility. This type of thinking gets us nowhere. Think about your statement, it's ridiculous.

 

[Mr Webname]

No, it's not ridiculous, your conclusions are ridiculous.
No one is saying that everything has to be switched off - however proper controls to protect children should be in place - as in the case generally in most other aspects of society.
The anonymity of the Internet creates problems that are not so easily encountered in "open" society.

 

[zouzas]

MS did what ant responsible co. would do they saw a problem and cut it out before it got bigger.MS may even be reviewing the rules for content under Kids.us guidelines and following suit and so will they all.

For parents its easy now only allow kids.us extension thru their isp and thats all .


www.Miscroft.Kids.us :cheeky:

 

[Whois-Search]

I think with Microsoft it will be another reason like was costing to much to run the chat servers

 

[Steen]

lol, whois i doubt it.


Beatz, I tottally agree with you

Why should they stop selling/offering their service if a criminal uses them?

MS should not be 100% to blame.

But do they monitor their chats?

Anyways I am not saying this becuase I use these chats, becuase I dont.

=)

Steen.