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nternet service provider Yahoo! has agreed to bar chat rooms that promote sex between minors and adults, the attorneys general of New York and Nebraska announced Wednesday.
The agreement calls for Yahoo! to remove and bar the posting of user- created chat rooms with names that promote sex between children and adults, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a prepared statement.
"We need to be vigilant to protect our children," Spitzer said. "It is imperative that parents, industry, prosecutors and lawmakers all work together to identify and address possible threats, and that we teach our children to protect themselves from those who would do them harm."
In June, while still in discussions with the attorneys general, Yahoo! removed or barred the posting of about 70,000 user-created chat rooms whose names suggested they facilitated illegal conduct, including promoting sex between adults and minors.
"Millions of people use the Internet every day, and many of those are children," said Bruning. "Because of this agreement Yahoo! chat rooms are a safer place today than ever before, meaning our children are safer online and predators have fewer opportunities to prey on them."
Among the illicit chat rooms removed were those with labels such as "girls 13 & up for much older men," "8-12 yo girls for older men," and "teen girls for older fat men." Many of these were located within the "Schools and Education" and "Teen" chat categories.
An undercover investigator, posing as a 14-year-old while visiting one of those chat rooms, received 35 personal messages of a sexual nature over a single 25-minute period, the attorneys general said.
Spitzer and Bruning said they launched their investigations earlier this year after receiving tips that children had unfettered access to adult chat rooms.
Yahoo! had no immediate comment.
Under the agreement:
_Yahoo! must prescreen all user-created chat room names and deny posting of all that encourage sex acts between adults and minors.
_If and when Yahoo! becomes aware of any such chat rooms, it must purge them from its site within 24 hours.
_Yahoo! will make it easier to report any threats to child safety, give priority to such complaints and designate specific employees to do so.
_Yahoo! will develop educational materials and feature them on the Yahoo! network, promoting the safe use of chat rooms.
_Yahoo! will donate $175,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's New York affiliates, and provide banner advertising to that organization targeted to teens.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/12/D8D6IBDO0.html
The agreement calls for Yahoo! to remove and bar the posting of user- created chat rooms with names that promote sex between children and adults, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a prepared statement.
"We need to be vigilant to protect our children," Spitzer said. "It is imperative that parents, industry, prosecutors and lawmakers all work together to identify and address possible threats, and that we teach our children to protect themselves from those who would do them harm."
In June, while still in discussions with the attorneys general, Yahoo! removed or barred the posting of about 70,000 user-created chat rooms whose names suggested they facilitated illegal conduct, including promoting sex between adults and minors.
"Millions of people use the Internet every day, and many of those are children," said Bruning. "Because of this agreement Yahoo! chat rooms are a safer place today than ever before, meaning our children are safer online and predators have fewer opportunities to prey on them."
Among the illicit chat rooms removed were those with labels such as "girls 13 & up for much older men," "8-12 yo girls for older men," and "teen girls for older fat men." Many of these were located within the "Schools and Education" and "Teen" chat categories.
An undercover investigator, posing as a 14-year-old while visiting one of those chat rooms, received 35 personal messages of a sexual nature over a single 25-minute period, the attorneys general said.
Spitzer and Bruning said they launched their investigations earlier this year after receiving tips that children had unfettered access to adult chat rooms.
Yahoo! had no immediate comment.
Under the agreement:
_Yahoo! must prescreen all user-created chat room names and deny posting of all that encourage sex acts between adults and minors.
_If and when Yahoo! becomes aware of any such chat rooms, it must purge them from its site within 24 hours.
_Yahoo! will make it easier to report any threats to child safety, give priority to such complaints and designate specific employees to do so.
_Yahoo! will develop educational materials and feature them on the Yahoo! network, promoting the safe use of chat rooms.
_Yahoo! will donate $175,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's New York affiliates, and provide banner advertising to that organization targeted to teens.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/12/D8D6IBDO0.html
