Yahoo chat rooms closed

[RogueWolf]

Just curious what everyone thinks about Yahoo closing all its user created chat rooms. Does anyone even care? I think Freeones needs a chat area!

 

[juballs]

never used the chat function at yahoo so it dosent affect me really. any reason why they closed the rooms?

 

[Ax3C]

Yahoo! chat rooms closed... because of CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Any reason why they closed the rooms?

I'm guessing that the propensity of child molesters, child pornography, and the potential for the sexual abuse of minors was pretty much the reason why they opted to shut it down...

SAN FRANCISCO - Family advocacy groups lauded Yahoo!, Inc. on Thursday for closing its chat rooms to clean up areas that allegedly were used to prey on children.

Over the past month, pressure has been building on Yahoo! to crack down on chat rooms that promoted sex with minors. After learning some of their advertisements were showing up in such chat rooms, companies such as PepsiCo Inc., Georgia-Pacific Corp. and State Farm Insurance removed their ads.

Yahoo!'s move came after a lawsuit was filed against the Internet portal last month on behalf of a 12-year-old molestation victim and following a long campaign by watchdog groups to persuade Yahoo! and other large Internet portals to purge their sites of child porn. The suit seeks $10 million in damages.

"The specific reason for the closure not withstanding, this is a positive a step in the online fight against child exploitation," said Michelle Collins, director of the exploited children unit at The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, based in Alexandria, Va.

Yahoo! spokeswoman Mary Osako said the company closed down user-created sites to make enhancements and to ensure users were adhering to the site's terms of service.

But after years of trying to persuade Sunnyvale-based Yahoo! to go after child pornographers operating within the chat rooms, critics suspect the threat of a costly civil suit and the potential loss of advertising dollars likely prompted Yahoo to act.

Patrick Truman, a senior legal counsel for the conservative Christian group, Family Research Council and a former federal prosecutor, believes Yahoo! has the means to police its site more effectively than it does. The company acknowledges that it does not monitor its chat rooms.

"I'm glad a suit has finally been brought because it will give someone access to the way Yahoo! operates," Truman said. "Records can now be subpoenaed that will show the kind of knowledge Yahoo has about the trade of child pornography in its chat rooms."

In 2002, an FBI investigation revealed that child pornography was being distributed on a Yahoo! Group called "Candyman". Yahoo! Groups are similar to chat rooms but allow members to access their own Web site within Yahoo! and communicate via e-mail. "Candyman" operated two months before being shut down.

Among the photographs circulated on "Candyman" was one of a 12-year-old boy from Georgia who was molested and photographed committing sex acts against his will, according to the boy's attorney, Adam Voyles.

The lawsuit claims Yahoo!, which has until July to respond to the suit, is liable for what transpired within "Candyman".

"These problems are not new," Voyles said. "It's been going on since the 1990s. Yahoo! has not changed its behavior. I hope it does. I hope they take this opportunity to clean up."

Meanwhile, Yahoo! must move to shore up its relationship with some of its sponsors.

Pepsi removed ads that were being displayed in the suspect chat rooms, but continued to advertise elsewhere on Yahoo!. But Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific, the maker of Brawny paper towels, removed all its ads from Yahoo!, company spokeswoman, Robin Keegan said.

"We were absolutely horrified to find out about this," Keegan said, adding that the company had no knowledge that their ads were appearing in the chat rooms in question.

Some users who obeyed the site's rules were upset by Yahoo!'s decision to close down all user-created sites, posting online complaints about the decision.

 

[Ax3C]

Just curious what everyone thinks about Yahoo closing all its user created chat rooms. Does anyone even care? I think Freeones needs a chat area!

This question/suggestion has been done to death so many times... it'd be nice if people elected to SEARCH before posting this tired, played-out question. Here's but one thread of the many existing ones in which both the Administrator and the Super-Moderator give their reasons as to why there will NOT be a FreeOnes chat room...

http://board.freeones.com/showthread.php?t=36259&highlight=Freeones+Chat

 

[scatman]

I dont think you got the point of his Post Asianxxxchick His question was what everyone thinks about yahoo closing all its user created chat and when he said I think freeones needs a chat area that was just a statement.

 

[member987]

I disagree scatman. Marie points out the problems with a chat room in this link:

http://board.freeones.com/showpost.php?p=364683&postcount=5

Most moderators are on a voluntary basis. To add a chat room and make this forum a "job" for the moderators would not be fair, IMO, to those that have agreed to become mods. Just my opin.

 

[member2686]

An unmoderated chat room here would be a disaster (in all likelihood). There simply aren't enough moderators for moderated chat. They'd have to be scheduled chat sessions, which COULD be done, but even that is complicated and probably unnecessary. Chatting can be fun, but most of us hardcore regulars use MSN or Yahoo messengers and we simply create conferences and have chats with other members here that way. It's simple to do, and it's fun!! :nanner:

To address the Yahoo closure of user-created chats... It's unfortunate, but it was creating a legal liability Yahoo could not bear or afford. Once again, a few bad apples in the basket have ruined it for honest people with honorable intentions. Maybe they'll get clever and figure out some sort of service to offer that permits age verification or something...

 

[scatman]

I disagree scatman. Marie points out the problems with a chat room in this link:

http://board.freeones.com/showpost.php?p=364683&postcount=5

Most moderators are on a voluntary basis. To add a chat room and make this forum a "job" for the moderators would not be fair, IMO, to those that have agreed to become mods. Just my opin.

In this thread I havnt voiced a opin about a freeones chat so how are you disagreeing with me? I only Pointed out that is thread is MAINLY about Yahoo. is that what your disagreeing with? my reason for this was the title of the thread and the questions brought up in the opening thread. Sorry if ive confused myself or something and that doesnt make sense. peace out

 

[jas32]

I used to be a mod in the MSN chatt rooms until my computer got fried. Now u have to pay a fee. If they were smart about it they should have some sort of SMALL fee through a credit card (tracking purposes) and have paid mods to actually check for preds. FBI agents have been training with kids on how to learn chatt stuff. Plus I think it should be the gov`t job to find the many preds that are missing. Watched a 20/20 thing on this stuff. Very scary.