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Child-safety advocates around the world are cheering the move -- but why?

You would think that those who strive to protect kids would realise that your average 8-11-year-old is more than smart enough to simply find other sites that provide these services.

And I also have to query -- where's the scientific evidence to support Microsoft's claims that chat-rooms are a dastardly evil that are the perpetual haunt of paedophiles and porn-traders.

Yes, from time to time we hear of kids being lured into meetings with adults bent on committing some kind of heinous crime, it does happen. However, when you compare the number of kids who use these chat-rooms with the number of actual cases of chat-room use leading to abduction or sexual assault, I can't help but get the feeling that your average kid is more likely to be killed in a car-crash.

In fact, here in NZ, the average kid is a hell of a lot more likely to be bashed to death by a member of their own family!

There's also a far greater chance that unsuspecting kids will find their mailbox filled with unsolicited porn-spam which contains or lures them to websites containing sexually explicit images. Will Microsoft now choose to stop shipping an email client and shut down HotMail because it's an even greater risk to kids than unmoderated chat rooms?

I think not!

Let's be sensible -- the real reason Microsoft wants to shut down these unmoderated chat rooms is probably more associated with money than any form a social conscience.

But there is an important issue here: just how do we protect kids on the Net?

I believe that the best place to start would be an international treaty that provided globally enforceable laws against the sending of unsolicited porn-spam. Lock the porn-spammers up for a hundred years then drag their dessicated remains through the streets -- that's what I say!

And what about educating parents a little more?

I have a worrying feeling that in far too many households, the internet has become yet another cheap baby-sitter and that parents have happily given little Janet or Johnny a PC and modem in their bedroom -- after all, it does keep them quiet of an evening doesn't it?

Maybe it would be a good idea (in these days of cutthroat competition) for ISPs to include some free software that allows parents to review the browser cache and history on their kids' PCs. Even if they're not able to keep an eagle-eye on them 24/7, at least they can see where they've been and, if necessary, explain why they shouldn't visit "Debbie's Dorm Cam" using daddy's credit card to gain access.

Or maybe the simplest way would be to simply make the whole internet an PGR16 area and forbid young-ones from unsupervised access?

After all, would you leave an 11-year-old to browse unsupervised through a book store that also had hard-core porn along the bottom row of its shelves?

The problem of kids on the Net is a really difficult one, but that doesn't mean we should give up on finding some workable solutions -- or simply throw the baby out with the bathwater as Microsoft seem to be doing.

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