MSN CLOSING CHAT ROOMS by markjut, cub-editorialist for CVN
MSN thinks it can cure the problem of children being attacked using the Internet by closing
down its chat rooms. MSN chose this path because it saves them headaches, possible lawsuits and oversight. They believe that this will certainly stop children from being abused over their Internet chatrooms.
This shows that they are very short sighted and more concerned with protecting what they have rather than developing new ideas to actually help provide safe places for children to chat. This move helps no one, but Microsoft. There are thousands of other unprotected chat rooms on the Internet. All people have to do it to type "Chat Rooms" into a search engine and they have thousands of websites sitting in front of them. Most of these are worse than MSN chat because there are not as well known.
The right solution would be to sit down and think what they can do over, what other ways could be created? I propose more means of identifying yourself, perhaps an online digital ID, like your IP address but bigger, like an Internet ID card issued through schools or governments. This would not only help with chat rooms but also in keeping the Internet more secure on the whole. The easiest would be to use sites like Cybertown. It is more secure than most because of the rules and the way it is themed. Many Cybertown Citizens can and do show new members how to ignore people, report abuses, and protect themselves in chat. Cybertown also now is pay, so potential child abuses would prefer to seek a free, poorly moderated chat website. At Cybertown, there is a far greater chance of being tracked, reported to official police agencies for prosecution and banned for life from Cybertown.
