While I do welcome any move which does help make the Internet more safer for Children, I also have to agree that this action by Microsoft does have other motives in mind.
This conclusion can be drawn for a number of reasons, Firstly msn chat a person doesn’t need to register, unlike yahoo where even if "fake" a person has to make an account with them (msn has many loop holes via the .net service).
Rather than remove all chat services they could instead make the rooms much more secure and safe for use (a task that should be easy for such a software giant). But they are not only going to remove the un-moderated chat rooms but moderated rooms as well.
Their are also going to keep running the msn messenger, a service that has been proven to be used by paedophiles.
Many conclusions can be drawn from Microsoft’s move but the one I suspect to be the case is not only is Microsoft wanting to save money they are planning to make money.
I would like to ask you to take a step back and look at Microsoft’s actions, they announce that they are closing most of their chat rooms down due to them being unsafe for Children. If this was truly the case wouldn't changing the system to where the free chat room accounts require say credit card validation before use solve that problem ??. And they have not only shutting their chat rooms down but have made a call to the industry as whole to follow suit (which I am please to see they have so far rejected as chat is a fundamental part of the internet and I feel the benefits and uses outweigh the risk that also stem from them (I don't mind if they are more regulated so far is they are still here)).
But as been pointed out not all the chat rooms are going rather the ones in the US are staying, If you look at the fact US children are at the same level of risk than children in the UK. I am not to sure on this point but as far as I have heard from the UK news some of the US chat rooms will be going, the ones that are staying are the ones part of Microsoft’s msn 8 (if possible can the ppl from the states confirm or disprove this). If it is the case the msn 8 chat rooms are at a very similar risks other than you Pay for them.
I believe that this is a move Microsoft has been wanting to do for a long time but feared the backlash of just shutting the chat rooms down. But by using this pretence they can get free advertisements via the news (worth millions) and get to shut the chat rooms down while been seen as the good guys. Also if the industry did follow the msn example then they would be less chat rooms available. I can see that shortly after the new year Microsoft will extend their msn8 service to places like the UK with chat rooms included as being a main feature. Turning what was a free service to a pay service and to be honest I am appalled that Microsoft would take such a serious issue and use it as a marketing tool.
Sorry for the long post their but I hate when companies do things like this.
