Toolkit

Story: Microsoft: Doing it for the kids?

Posted by: Anonymous (Monday 6 October 2003, 12:56 PM)

Microsoft may think that closing their chatrooms will help protect children from possibly coming into contact with undesirable people, but what about the junk mail children all over the country who have a hotmail account are receiving every day?
If you want to look at porn on the internet, you dont have to even look for it, if you have a hotmail account, it looks for you! I have had my account for about six years. I have never looked at anything even slightly 'dodgy' on the internet, and I rarely give out my email address. Yet I receive about 30 - 50 junk mail items per day, most of which are inviting me to view porn. There is no discrimination, it is all there - young, old, mixed, same sex, animals, people from the same family - it is all there ready to view.
Not only is this kind of mail likely to end up in the Inbox or Junk Mail folder of childrens hotmail accounts, but in some cases it must encourage adults who have not even considered such things before to take a look to see what it is all about?
Surely it cannot be that difficult for Microsoft to put filters in place to remove most of this kind of Junk Mail? Even if it is difficult, they should at least be making noises that they are trying to do something to stop it. Yes, chatrooms can be dangerous places, but this kind of Junk Mail surely encourages behaviour that could put children in more danger, but hey, at least they wont be meeting in MSN chatrooms anymore!