Microsoft chatroom closure is welcomed

Microsoft’s decision to close its European chatrooms to protect
children from paedophiles has been welcomed by children’s
charities.

NSPCC internet safety expert Christine Atkinson said the move would
“help close a major route for sex abusers to gain access to
innocent children by grooming them on the internet”. John Carr,
internet adviser at NCH, said if a company as big as Microsoft was
unable to keep children safe in its chatrooms, smaller providers
would need to ask themselves whether they could.

However, Liberal Democrat social care spokesperson Paul Burstow
said the closure would not necessarily protect children because
they might switch to chatrooms that were even more unsafe.