Yahoo Shuts Down All Chat Rooms

Score one for the safety of our children. An AP story released by CANADA.com, reports that Yahoo has announced that it has shut down hundreds of chat rooms. The closures came after several of its top sponsors applied pressure following a news report which revealed that some of the rooms were used to promote sex with minors.

Companies such as PepsiCo Inc., State Farm Insurance and Georgia-Pacific Corp. stopped advertising on Yahoo after they were informed adults were attempting to lure children into sexual encounters within some of Yahoo's user-created chat rooms, said a report by KPRC-TV in Houston, Texas.

KPRC reported in some cases, men were using Web cameras to send lewd pictures to minors in chat rooms with such titles as Younger Girls 4 Older Guys and Girls 13 And Under for Older Guys.

A Yahoo spokesperson declined to say when or if the user-created chat rooms would return. Let's hope never!