14 DAY TRIAL // We're all aware of the fact that the Internet can be used for both useful purposes, as for example research and communication, but also for some rather immoral ones. One the most serious problems in the past years has been the traffic of pornographic materials involving minors, and the major web services providers have already begun to take some harsh measures against these practices.
Thus, Yahoo! has decided to shutdown several hundreds private chat rooms working on the company's site, following the protest from the sponsors. Some of these chat rooms had allegedly been used in order to promote sex with minors.
Yahoo! has taken this course of action after some of its most important sponsors, as for example PepsiCo Inc., State Farm Insurance or Georgia-Pacific Corp., have decided to withdraw their ads from the site, following the reports regarding the illegal activities which were taking place in these chat rooms.
Yahoo! spokeswoman, Mary Osako, which has refused to give any kind of details regarding a possible return of the service or the reasons behind its shutdown, has stated that the portal took this decision in order to improve the service and assure the "compliance with our terms of service".
The main problem is that this initiative, even if it's a commendable one, also affects the other users, which were presumably complying with these terms, because it blocks their access to the chat rooms as well