http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/24/microsoft.chat.reaction/
LONDON, England (CNN) – Microsoft’s decision to close unsupervised Internet chat rooms in many countries has triggered a heated debate among free speech advocates, children’s rights groups and Microsoft rivals.
Children’s charities have welcomed the decision saying the move has been long overdue – but warn it may attract children to other sites which may be more harmful.
But others argue Microsoft is not the correct authority to take on the policing of the Internet, and say the decision will deepen the “digital divide” between rich and poor.
John Carr, Internet advisor to the children’s charity NCH, told CNN the decision was “good, but sad.”
“I think what we are seeing here is Microsoft saying it is turning its back on the old anarchic Internet, with all the attendant worries and dangers with pedophile abuse and spam,” he said.
“They want to position themselves as a family-friendly company, and that old bit of the Internet doesn’t fit into that old business model.”
He added: "If Microsoft reach the view that they can’t safety continue to provide a service sufficiently safely to children, they are certainly morally, and possibly even legally, obliged to do stop doing so.
“We have all known there has been an issue around safety in children’s chatrooms, but we haven’t been able to solve it until now.”
Chris Atkinson, Internet safety expert at the NSPCC, told the UK’s Press Association: "This announcement is a very positive step forward and will help close a major supply line for sex abusers who go to great lengths to gain access to innocent children by grooming them on the Internet.
“For too long we have been told by the Internet industry that chatrooms are global and that nothing could be done to stop their escalation and their use by adults who target children.”
But he warned some children may go to other chatrooms.
“I think some children will stop going into chatrooms because of this decision. But some children will go to other chatrooms,” he added.
But Will Doherty, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates the free flow of information online, told CNN the decision would contribute to the “digital divide” and create a “gated community” on the Internet.
“It means that only people who can afford the price of entry can chat without the distractions of spam and so on,” he added.
Microsoft’s rival AOL – parent of CNN – said it already used adult moderators in its subscription chatrooms.
Comment:
Microsoft, the worlds largest computer company, has decided to pull the plug on almost all of its Internet chat sites. The few that will remain open will be “moderated” or credit card authorised sites. Microsoft is probably one of the largest providers of Internet based chat sites in the world, with millions of people from around the globe using their software daily, and such a change will have a profound effect on Internet users around the globe.
Microsoft has made this move because of concerns about “child safety” in chat rooms. This refers to the increasing problem of paedophiles using chat rooms to arrange meetings with unsuspecting children. Microsoft’s response to this problem is certainly mammoth in proportions, and akin to closing down the phone system because some callers were receiving crank calls. Being a corporation driven by Capitalist philosophy, it may prove that they acted due to financial, or more likely, legal reasons. Given the nature of litigation in the US, it is not unlikely that parents of abused children would sue Microsoft for providing unrestricted chat rooms. Yet the whole affair also shows the gravity and seriousness of the menace that child abuse has become in the West. Here in Britain, almost every week there are stories of young children running away, being attacked or raped by strangers they met through Internet sites. It is clearly an epidemic, and still growing.
Whilst removing chat sites may close one path to the determined child abuser, it does not tackle the thoughts that produce these monsters in the first place. In fact, it is the same thought that allows the unsuspecting children to disregard their parent’s rules and instructions, and proceed to meet strangers. “Freedom” is this criminal thought. The idea that one can do as one pleases, or act upon ones instincts in any manner one wishes. This is the root of the problem that produces child abusers, as well as rebellious children. However, this is a corrupted “ideal” that the western world will cling to, regardless of the problems that may arise. The West will patch up the mess that arises as a result of this wayward thought, but will never seek to address the flawed thought.
Islam recognises that man is not free to do as he pleases; rather he is always subject to rules and laws. These rules and laws are either the ones that men have created, or they are the ones that Allah (SWT) has given to man. Muslims realise that the rules and laws of men are flawed, and that Allah (SWT) is the only one who is competent, and has the right, to legislate for mankind. As such, Muslims adhere to the guidance of Islam, and are always fully aware that their actions are always visible to Allah (SWT), and that His (SWT) punishment is harsh. This keeps an Islamic society free from the turmoil that “freedom” creates in western society.