Three of the UK's highest profile children's charities have severely criticised Yahoo! for the way in which it runs its instant messaging service and chatrooms. Is it safe to have your children using chatrooms or instant messaging, and are the big companies doing enough? YAHOO!'S CHATROOM APATHY:
Experts split on Yahoo! inspector plans
Thu, 23 Nov Experts question whether one man is enough for the job, while Childwatch calls for chatrooms to be suspended to analyse the situation Exclusive: Yahoo! will act against paedophiles
Tue, 21 Nov UK managing director says she will personally oversee the appointment of a Yahoo! inspector to eradicate paedophiles from chatrooms Police chief slams Yahoo! chatroom silence
Thu, 16 Nov Metropolitan police says Yahoo!'s stonewalling tactics are inappropriate and 'appalling' Chatrooms will increase child attacks, say experts
Thu, 16 Nov Children who log on to chatrooms could be the unwitting prey of sophisticated paedophiles Child charities unite against Yahoo! chat
Mon, 13 Nov Yahoo! yet to respond to charity's criticism of its chatroom and messenger facilities Child agencies lambast Yahoo! over chatroom apathy
Thu, 09 Nov Children's charities severely criticise Yahoo!'s policy on Internet chatrooms and call on the industry to be more responsible NEWS:
Lords vote against entrapment proposal
Thu, 09 Nov Peers decide to block proactive law designed to deal with Net predators Life sentence for Net murderer
Mon, 06 Nov Another Internet-related criminal sentenced in the UK Forty year old law puts children at risk
Wed, 01 Nov Lords' debate corners government on activities of paedophiles online as the Home Office defends a law passed in 1960 which it insists can deal with the Internet Government claims paedophile laws do not need updating
Wed, 01 Nov Out-of-date act "sufficient" to deal with Internet crime says government UK expert calls for entrapment of paedophiles
Wed, 25 Oct Criminal experts call for a more proactive approach in trapping Net predators Net paedophile gets five years
Tue, 24 Oct Jail term for paedophile who tracked his victim online as parents ask why can't we trap these people? COMMENT
Yahoo!: paedophiles, no; Nazis, yes
Yahoo!, which seems to have decided that Nazis aren't dangerous but paedophiles are. But Yahoo! seems to be arguing on principle. At least David Coursey hopes it isn't because the company is too lazy or stupid to fix its software to make the French happy. Amazon and eBay have taken reasonable steps to comply with French law. Like the wise man said, "It's only software." Yahoo's been talking dirty
It really is important that in a dangerous world, people are alert to where the dangers are. But how far can we go in protecting them. If we stop them using what is currently available perhaps the kids themselves will develop a peer-to-peer messenging system which bypasses Yahoo! and AOL and all the other Usenet groups? Guy Kewney asks -- Could a censorship move by Yahoo! actively encourage such a move underground? Take me to the Web of Porn Special Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Click on the TalkBack button and go to the ZDNet News forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom. And read what others have said.