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Hmmmmmm, stories about peadophiles makes good copy these days and this country especially enjoys a good moral panic.
Both my girls (aged 12 & 16) use MSN and never visit the chat rooms, however judging by the comments from their mates on msn, yes every name is known to them and a genuine teen, these kids are a pretty sordid and perverted bunch to start with.
Kids arent stupid anyhow, most can tell when the idiots enter the room and can smell a rat. They can always use the ignore button and just could contact with someone.
As for migrating to Yahoo away from Microsoft rooms, i decided to take a look there earlier out of interest.... well trawling through a number of rooms including those with voice where there appeared to be genuine kids chatting revealed some pretty sordid goings on anyhow - from the kids never mind guys pretending to be teens.
I think whilst some younger kids will be happy with moderated chat rooms most 'street wise' kids will run a mile, always prefering a safe risk and an chance to annoy and shock parents in an increasingly sanitised and 'health and safety' driven world.
My own concerns are much more about spam mail with porno pictures attached and these also really annoy my kids. Despite all kinds of filters they keep getting through.... but not a word from Micro$oft and others on this. No moral panics or even much concern, but mention paedophile and we sink back into 16th century witch hunt mentality at the expense of reality and common sense.
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