Yahoo Chat Rooms: You Must Be Over 18 Now

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Yahoo chat rooms are being closed to anyone under 18. That’s an announcement made today under an agreement between Yahoo and the New York State attorney general’s office.

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According to a statement by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, “Yahoo has removed and barred user-created chat rooms with names like “Teen Girls for Older Fat Men”…, adding that the rooms encourage inappropriate activities.

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Both the state of New York and the state of Nebraska started investigations earlier this year after reports of children having unrestricted access to adult chat rooms, making children easy prey for adults of a certain persuasion. Mr. Spitzer’s office told of an investigator who posed as a 14-year old girl in the Yahoo Chat area, and received 35 sexually explicit messages within 25 minutes.

According to a Yahoo spokesperson, “Yahoo is taking further steps to enhance user safety by restricting Yahoo Chat to users 18 and older and removing the Teen category. Yahoo will continue to strongly support law enforcement in their work, as well as continue to provide support for several nonprofit organizations committed to online safety.”

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In addition, the agreement provides that:

“Should Yahoo! reinstate such user-created chat rooms, it must pre-screen all user- created chat room names, so that any chat room name encouraging sex acts between adults and minors will not be posted;

In the event Yahoo! becomes aware of any such chat room, despite these controls, it must purge the room from its site within 24 hours;

Yahoo! will make it easier to report any threats to child safety, give priority to such complaints, and designate specific employees to do so;

Yahoo! will develop education materials and feature them on the Yahoo! network, promoting the safe use of chat rooms;

Yahoo! will donate $175,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s New York affiliates, and provide banner advertising to that organization targeted to teens.”

Explained Attorney General Spitzer, “We need to be vigilant to protect our children. It is imperative that parents, industry, prosecutors and lawmakers all work together to identify and address possible threats, and that we teach our children to protect themselves from those who would do them harm.”

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253 thoughts on “Yahoo Chat Rooms: You Must Be Over 18 Now

  1. TOO MANY PARENTS USE A COMPUTER FOR A BABY SITTER,DONT CARE WHAT THEIR KIDS DO ON THEM.

  2. Well guess what, it’s now dec. 21 2012. The world has not yet ended but ALL yahoo chat rooms have.

  3. Doesn’t everyone know that it is our responsibility as parents to teach our children good morals and not Yahoo’s or any other entity? Doesn’t everyone know that nobody is going to care about our children more than we do and it is our responsibility to keep them out of adult chat rooms looking to talk about sex or even to look for it? As far as Dateline is concerned, “To Catch a Predator” was cancelled because they entrapped an innocent man and caused him to blow his brains out. So yes, free speech is certainly a big deal no matter if it is talking about having sex with your permiscuous 13 year old daughter or not. Some of the things our kids see in games and on television are just as bad as (if not worse than) the things that are said and seen in an adult chat room. The point is, like I have heard before, children are not innocent but this does not give police officers the right to create crime and incite panic. This is what police officers are doing in internet stings which is why they are conducting them on adult web sites. They are pretending to be teenagers interested in sex with adults or are even craving it. The very chat room itself incites lust in the mind of the “child” because of the pornographic images and to say that these men arrested are luring or seducing them is rediculous because they are just “playing the part too”. Meanwhile, on the other end of the computer some guy is thinking yeah right this is just somebody messing around because “children don’t do this stuff” and normally they are right. The police are using the outside chance that a minor is looking for sex to their advantage, creating crime, and talking some “pervert” into coming over. I have heard of instances where the undercover officers get downright nasty when the men refuse to come. Sometimes these men don’t even come over to have sex but get arrested anyway. There are plenty of articles to prove this too. The point is, the internet stings being performed on adult sites are illegal and in no way prove that someone is a pedophile preying on minors which is why almost all of the people arrested do not have criminal records. It’s not because they have just not been caught yet because if that were true the sixth grade school teacher and youth pastor that were just arrested would have had plenty of real life victims by now and would not need the internet.

    Our children know what they are doing on the internet when they go to a porn riddled adult chat room (if they do) and tell some stranger they want to try oral sex or even “spread eagle” (if they do). They might do these things (but unlikely) because they are having more sex than we are nowadays and it’s our fault. Furthermore, if our teenagers do access adult content it is certainly our fault and they are going to be lying about their age to the other people anyway so nobody knows that a horny teenager is on the loose. If you will sit and just watch any chat room, not just an adult chat room, girls will change their age pretty consistently. I have seen girls start at 23, then they were 20, then they were 16, and finally would be 26. The men arrested might be doing something wrong but hey, free sex is free sex to a lot of guys and this is not illegal especially since the age is not certain. Yet, I’m sure that most of the teenagers that are on the internet looking for adults to fornicate with have already been molested by their parents or someone close to the family because that’s what the statistics prove. The real threats on the internet are not the “perverts” in the adult chat rooms that get solicited by undercover officers posing as sex crazed teenagers. The undercover officers probably make up most if not all of the “teenagers” looking for adults to “seduce”. The real threats are the adults “we cannot see”. The ones that pose as minors themselves to prey on an UNKNOWING VICTIM that will not give out their address for the purpose of a consentual sex act. The real threats turn our children against us by earning their trust and grooming them for months and months until they are comfortable enough to meet somewhere and this is when they get raped and killed. So in reality the only adult that is a threat to our children is us. If someone is allowed to groom your child on the internet for months without you knowing about it, then your child should be taken into protective custody. You should know if their 14 year old Facebook or Myspace friend that they always talk to is really 46 year old Bubba. You should know if their Xbox live playmates are really children themselves or adults just looking to manipulate, take advantage, and victimize them. Visit the blogs at http://floridascandal.blogspot.com for supporting case law proving entrapment and stop being so naïve by believing that pedophiles are being caught in stings.

  4. Is there any FREE chat rooms for adults, or are the all pay sites, They say they are free but when you join them they want you to pay to email or read emails. False advertisements. sucks

  5. Justin.tv is worse and still allowing kids on the site even when the TOS says 13. The chats are nasty and peverse. The admins don’t do nothing to protect the kids.

  6. i passed18 yrs but i cant chat in yahoo chat room im tried about that i really hate yahoo i wann put some naught word for yahoo but i cnt u know why but yahoo ‘s really my good frn it helps to time pass when i will bor,,.m’;

  7. that sux @$$. i’m gonna be 12 on sep 5th && i think chatrooms r fine. i get bad messeges in there but i just call them a pervtard then ignore them. if they keep messeging me then threaten to tell the cops.

  8. okay let me tell you guys something this is a very dangerous sight for people and especially for teenies okay i know im 1 2 but im a teen and i hate it woow

  9. it is called cyoa just like when they closed the user rooms and after 1 person has said it no reason to keep ranting about parenting simple fact is kids are smart tell em they cant…and they will…it is the New York Attorney General who needs educated along with the rest of law enforcement but oh wait…. most of them have degrees and think they know it all lol.. they teach kids how to use computers in school by 2nd grade here..what do ya think they know about them by the time they reach the 7th? Yeah pedophiles exist and the kids know it and most over the age of 12-15 are chasing adults doesnt matter if its a male or a female its still happening yall need to really step back and pay attention for a week without posting or talking just sit and watch it will be an education u will neva forget about who does what on yahoo

  10. it is nice to join the people comming from each and every part of the world

  11. wow yall are crazy! I think you should be 18 to be in a chat room and for parents who are saying they can just say they are 18 or use proof from somewhere else why dont the parents lock the websites? duh! yahoo shouldnt start charging…plus if the parents were watching their kids more closely while they were online yahoo wouldnt have this problem in the first place

  12. The problem in the internet world of perverts will be anywhere you go, look at myspace for example. also I don’t back the things Yahoo has done in the last year and a half, all they’re doing is looking for money. Yahoo cares nothing about your childs safety!. Yahoo merges with MSN? why you think? so they can start charging for it just like MSN has started to do. Now look at this, Yahoo took user rooms away cause of the names of some of them and dangers to kids I understand..but don’t you think that they should have just made it where you couldn’t make certain rooms depending on what was included in the room name? (porn, child lookin for man, etc). Yahoo has turned so gay that hardly any kids are even going to use it anymore, and besides, a child should know better than to be internet molested and sure the fuck should know not to set up meetings with somebody from the internet. I personally believe that the parents need to step the fuck up and take control.

  13. I think its about time this got sorted.their r 2 many freaks in the world and i think even though kids do silly things (we all did once)does not giv sicko pedophiles the right 2 play their sick fantasies onto young kids.i personally feel that peodophiles should be shot on the spot.at the end of the day a young kid cant protect themselves and even when parents r around it only takes a second 4 them 2 b in danger.and pedophiles know this!

  14. I can not see how doing away with the chatrooms will do away with the pedifiles. I see it as a great place to expose them.the pedifiles are just going to go some place elese. Use the Yahoo chat rooms to set them up.

  15. Yahoo is a joke. When it comes to saftey they have no clue. Whether its our children or hackers. If enough people were to BOYCOTT yahoo they woud step up. I will soon be filing a lawsuit against yahoo for several reasons. I ask all to BOYCOTT yahoo. Until they abide by the laws our govern ment has put into place, yahoo will continue to be no better than a playground for many. Yahoo wont even enforce its own terms and conditions in any form. People stand up…Start your own BOYCOTT in your own town or city. Let others know. I will tell you.. the music chatrooms are the worst for perverts, pedifiles, hackers, and online prostitution. BOYCOTT the internet?.. Hell yeah.. BOYCOTT yahoo.

  16. do any one kno where you can chat online bacc and forth with someone r leave a chatroom web site

  17. Comment to #6 BOB and everyone else calling caring PARENTS BITCHES – Do you have any children? Do you know where they are every minute of the day? Just FYI – My 13 yr old son is not allowed on the fucken internet. I watch him like a dog! I am very internet savvy and can find out anything I want to know EVEN if he were to gain access. GUESS WHAT!!! I find out through my own research that he has a profile on MYSPACE.COM and has had for several months. And he did create that profile at my house!!!! He created that profile and will chat while at friends, grandparents, etc. POINT IS – BEFORE YOU START CALLING OUT BITCH TO CARING PARENTS. FUCK FREE SPEECH – SICK FUCKERS LIKE U MAKE THIS WORLD AN UNPLEASANT PLACE. I SEE YOU EXCERSISE YOUR FREE SPEECH JUST CUZ U CAN. LET ME USE MY FREE SPEACH NOW – FUCK THE INTERNET, FUCK MYSPACE, AOL, YAHOO – THEY ARE NOT DOING WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN. PEOPLE JUST LIKE U ABUSE THE FREE SPEECH SUCH AS GETTING ON MESSENGERS, PREYING ON CHILDREN AND YELLING “FREE SPEECH FREE SPEECH”, I CAN TELL ANY 13 YEAR OLD HOW I WANT TO STICK MY THING IN HER, HOW BIG I AM, AND HOW I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE HER CUM 5 TIMES AND HOW I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A BLOW JOB. OK….MR FREE SPEECH – DO YOU KNOW WHAT UR DADDY IS DOING? MAYBE UR WIFE, UR BROTHER, UR SON IS DOING ON THE INTERNET – I THINK ONLY THE GUILTY ARE YELLING FREE SPEECH. YOUR YOUR RIGHTS APPROPRIATELY. THAT IS OK – THE LAW IS CRACKING DOWN YOU U SICK FREE SPEECH BITCHES – U WILL BE CAUGHT!!!! WATCH DATELINE SOMETIME!!!!

    SMILES

  18. to whom it may concern i fell that it is not fair to the people who have not done anything wrong for us not to be able to go to chatrooms.

  19. If they can have rooms that ban anyone younger then 18 why can’t they create chat rooms that ban anyone older then 18. I am 16 I really liked chatting with others especcially in the Christian Teen rooms, I am home schooled and it was great to chat with others of the same beliefs and age. I just wish there was still something out there. and yes I use to get messages from perverts but its everyones own responsibility to block or ignore them.

  20. My comment is Chat room . i want Create chat room in yahoo
    but here is no option in Create chat room Pleas i want chat room

  21. i think this is a great idea for the chat room because i have young kids and the chat rooms are filled with sexual peditors alll they eant are young people to molest and still there inocent lives.

  22. GOD IS A GOOD GOD TIME IS RUNNING OUT REPENT FROM DOING WRONG GREAT IS THE LORD AMEN AMEN.

  23. i am cool
    inocent, sincetive
    and like a good frnd
    dont add me any one just looking cool frnd

  24. oh oh there you go again talking cenamatic,yeah you you’re charming like everybodys track star,I know how you always seem to go for the obvious instead of me but buy a ticket and youll see If we were a movie than youd be the right guy and i’d be the best friend that you fell in love with in the end we were laughing watching the sunset,fade to black show the name play the happy song—- wish i could tell you there a twist some kind of hero in disguise oh no no but there is nothing————if we were a movie than youd be the right guy and id be the best friend that you fell in love with in the end we were laughing watching the sunset, fade to black show the name play the happy song——-

  25. hay i am looking to have some fun and meet new people to chat with 24 feamle idaho
    so ya can we chat

  26. I am pleased that you must be 18 or older to get in the chat rooms .Since the chatrooms were for chat.The most important thing is I went to yahoo chatand chatting with all who would chat and I was chatting with a FEMALE AND I ASKED Asl(age sex and location)and she had hesitated and asked me the same.I told her and told me but she lied and said a wrong age and I figured out that she was only 16and I was very upset since she was under aged quaote minor and here parents probly had no Idea of whom she chats with on the computer and I ignored her and told her that If she tryed to chat with me I would send a message to her parents and tell them what she’s been doing with their knowledge.

  27. well thats it for all of us i hope the fun was fun but yeah yahoo ur too dam shitty any’way jk lol and i just got on for the frist time and it said must be 18 i was what the hell is going on here then i was like porn site no yahoo well I’ll be dam ,, any ways i am clint the pimp from canada i live in kenora and it sucks here big time i wish i live in the sates meet better honeys…. cl i n t_c a m p b e l l 911@ h ot m ail. com

  28. Sorry mike, im a guy.
    btw, Yahoo doesnt allow you to post you yim screen name in your intro, even if you choose to be contacted using yim in yahoo personals. how retarted is that?

  29. btw, Parents can infact control what they do, especially if they use IE. Go to Tools | Internet Options | Content, and under the Content Advisor section click Enable. You can also set a password to where the PARENT has to come and approve the site they go to.

  30. Make the users on the personals sites put in their Drivers license, have it check the DOTs database, do a check against the credit card and address they provide. deterring teens more.

  31. It was time for it kids need to be kids again and use the internet as little as possible and then the parents monitor there children

  32. Is this a sort of chatroom?Well.I’m an 18 year old extremely cute and handsome guy searching for some fun on the internet and in real life as well if possible.Let’s chat over here babes.I dn’t mind women between 30-45.I love mauture women.See ya babies.Love ya all!Mwah!!!Post ur comment here itself!!!

  33. It’s a good thing that you people closed down the yahoo chatroom else i’d have raped many more sexy teens.My name is abdoulah Ramzakhkhan sentipi and i’m a serial rapist.Nobody(no policemen from any of the pats of the world)has been able to arrest me).I’m gonna continue to rape young teens!!!Astalavista baby!!!P.s. Is there any other free chatroom where i could find more victims?Thanks in advance!!!

  34. It’s a good thing that you people closed down the yahoo chatroom else i’d have raped many more sexy teens.My name is abdoulah Ramzakhkhan sentipi and i’m a serial rapist.Nobody(no polcemen from any of the pats of the world)has been able to arrest me).I’m gonna continue to rape young teens!!!Astalavista baby!!!P.s. Is there any other free chatroom where i could find more victims?Thanks in advance!!!

  35. Actually i signed in 2 find friends, so if u have the same thought as i do, contact me on nfrankwarren@yahoo.com. Rachel, u can be my friend, not so?

  36. i think it is a good thing that you have to be 18to many sick people in this world for young girls

  37. this is ARAVIND contact me to this cell no:9884594262 i need a frienship with you dont mistake me. especially linda iam waitin for your messag nnot only linda evrybody i am a loyola guy

  38. this is ARAVIND contact me to this cell no:9884594262 i need a frienship with you dont mistake me

  39. FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO COMMECT ON THIS SUBJECT ITS THE D*M PARENDS FALT FOR NOT LOCKING DOWN THE COMPUTER AT LATE NIGHT OR EARLY MORNINGS AND IF THE PARENDS WOULD DO THERE JOB LIKE THEY POST TO DO WE WOUNT HAVE THIS PROBLEM SO NOTE TO THE PARENDS LOOK AT DOWNLOAD HISTORY,HISTORY,COOKIES,CACHES,DO SEARCHS ON YOUR COMPUTER FOR HINDING IMAGES OR CHATS AND NOTE TO ALL THESE YOUNGER KIDS STAY OFF THE CHAT ROOMS OR ANY MYSPACE CRAP IF YOUR NOT THE ILLEGAL AGE TO DO AND WHEN THE WEBSITE SAYS 18+ OLDER THEY MEAN IT AND NOT TRY TO MAKE PROFILES SAYING YOUR 18 BECAUSE YAHOO OR ANY THESE BIG SITES WILL TRACK YOUR IP ADDRESS AND YOUR MAC ADDRESS OFF YOUR COMPUTER SO YOUNG KIDS PLEASE STAY OFF OF THE CHAT ROOMS AND PARENTS BEFORE YOU GO TO BED MAKE SURE YOU LOCK THE COMPUTERS UP AND PUT A PASSWORD SO THAT YOUR KIDS WOUNT KNOW IT

  40. YYYEEEAAAHHH!! Its about time we stand!!! PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!! I knew there was people out there cared.PROTECT THE CHILDREN AT ALL COST!!!!

  41. im 25 year old looking for a female from the ages of 20 to 30 looking for a good time

  42. Ithink a healthy relationship always pays and sincere and honest people are mis understood

  43. forgive me for my spelling. It is late. Just remember these are not always kids. They can be sexual predators or some 13 year old with a mouth. I have vowed to have tom and larry prosecuted and Bastey terminated. Time.

  44. Added informatation. Admins tend to have a loaded gun. It used to be, just chat about basic things. Then an admin named bastey, stole my id Thunderwolf and I watched the room for days and listend to voice, as he bragged about how he took peoples i’d’s. Is that professional? What happened to the days you could just chat. Now I am banned from yahoo. It took Three years watching him. As a supervisor, I would terminate him in a heartbeat. But yahoo, likes a bulldog. I should reinterate on the above page when they sent ” Cindy” down this way. A person I had been speaking to off and on. She wanted directions from my area. I made the mistake of giving her my cell #. She was going to a funeral. I said yes I can give you directions just call me, since I was working local. It was a shemale and her pimp. It wanted me to go to a local motel and perform. I said no and wasked why you are going to a funeral in ill, with a tank top on. I watched her pimp look around nervous. After I said no, the ring started. Constant harrasment and being knocked off line. These people are hard to find, but if you sit and watch and compare voice and take note ask about the chat partys, you can find them. I never had a beef with them untimm tom and dave called and threatend to kill me and my family. They were not kids. Adults from minor mo. I still have it on tape. I guess thats why I am banned from Yahoo. Its really sad I can locate these people before law enforcement can. Remember the nics, bastey, Jen_is_evil, loki. Loki has a tatoo on his chest, buterfly, dark hair small. Alton Ill.

  45. I have followed three prostetution rings and met with one. As a former law enforcement officer, I understand. It seems that with ” Death threats and hackers who call your home, after hacking into yahoo, posting your home addy and phone#, the Government has its hands tied. I have Three suspects in the sikeston area and one in Akansas area. When you call and threaten to kill a child I think it needs to be taken serious. Names. Basty, loki, jen_is_evil. All adult romance

  46. you people need to go after the “real criminals” like mr spitzer and all others who try to restrict “normal people from communicating with friends this in my opinion is a blatent attempt to restrict free speech and sould be dealt with in the harshes manner possible

  47. surely i m more than 18 years.would you believe me i m 33 years.itis very precise that it should be closed for under eighteen

  48. I was there at the begainning of Yahoo chat. When it was Family oriented. We had alot of fun. There were no Hackers and Booters. We use to be able to use our scripting for entertainment right in the chat rooms. Marquees allowing a small *.gif or *.Jpg to slide from one side of a chat statement line to the other, at most. But those that take advantage of others started. “Man’s Inhumanity to man” begain. Hence, “The Begainning of the end.” Instead of using the laws we have before us, the law abiding citizen were all held responsible. Our privledges were taken in scripting! All the way till what I see. The worst of the worst praying upon our children. Though my children are all adults these days. I understand the need to put these types of LOW LIFES out of action. Where does the law do what it was written for? How many more freedoms are going to be lost to criminals that don’t abide by the law? Why are we writing laws if we are not going to use them. If you are for a minute going to tell me that you can’t catch them here on this platform of communication. I’ll prove you wrong in a heart beat! As I was doing just that to the hackers and booters until FedCirc fell down on the job. It revolved all the way to the Security Departments of the individual ISP. Without them there is no way left to verify the data transmited.
    I being someone who had enough knowledge to Catch Hackers in the act and get enough info for a conviction on those that broke our Computer Fraud and Abuse act of 1984.I nailed 15 total for breaking the Computer Fruad and Abuse act. There in I got to get the first hand experience of seeing FedCirc stop taking any action against those breaking our Laws. This was just after the time when FedCirc was appointed to the place of Homeland Security by our United States President. Also after the ex president of Symantec was appointed Head of FedCirc (Homeland Security. When the problem came to light of Porno and Chat bots coming into Yahoo Chat Rooms. I dug into finding out who and where. I found these Chat Bots and Porno to be coming from the GEO Web Sites. The web Sited rented by Yahoo. Withe further research I found out thse Site Servers were all in LA County in California. It just so happens that that their Vice Squads had just suffered quite a demise. The unit had been lowered to Two Officers for all of LA County. I also learned that Yahoo was the greatest part of the money behind the vote that turned their Vice Unit upside down. This info was made available to the state of Texas almost a year and a half ago. The final outcome of that case against Yahoo never came out. But it was made public that the Yahoo reps were blaming the public at large for the chat bots. Yet the Yahoo Geo Cities were the place they came from. How can an enities profits from such enterprise be over looked from a court of law. Don’t know how, but it looks real obvious to me.
    As far as what that has all developed too, I don’t like seeing “Rights Lost” due to Criminals.
    I’ll take this opportunity to address this other issue!!!
    New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, I’ll address this directly to you. Seeing your my Attorney General. How is it four Sheriffs from Saratoga County still walk around free? This being after it was handed to one of your AAG’s from Buffalo. As he has sat on the case for no one to see for 12 years. The entire occurrance took place in front of several witnresses. Esspecially, when it was Grand Larceny Charges that was handed to your office. I believe that to be the year before you took your office.But it left me at a place were all my belongings were trashed by a political regime and well over $40,000.oo Dollars in Construction equipment was stolen by another type of Low Life that hides behind a badge!!!!! There is no room for corrupt officers in any part of this country. But this extended all the way into the County Seat and back before my property (Construction Equipement) was stolen. Or maybe there are many in the position that don’t like to hear about payment of property tax being refused by the County Teasurer for four years. It extended all the way to another situation of a cover up at the end of 2002 that passed through my life. One where an audit of child support showed undeniable being paid. But the payments never coming out the other side for the children. I think there is alot more than meets the eye in politics these days.
    But, to get back to the subject at hand. The chat room that I use to attend was first called “Firearms Policy”, later to become “The Gun Cabinet”. Mostly frequented by Police Officers, Veteran and Active Servicemen alike, Hunters, Gun Smiths, and NRA members like myself. he only of the Yaqhoo Chatrooms that are left are the Indigenious and Native American chatrooms, which are all young kids.. That there are actual people in. Course to me a young kids start around 30 to there 20’s. The rest are all new named chatrooms, but filled with Chatbots. These being in the categories I use to frequent. But I had not been back until recently. I guess it had been a little less than a year since I was heavily visiting my favorite 5 chatrooms.
    We came close to having a tight community in Union, especially here in the US. But instead, now it’s disolved and the little that’s left is falling apart at the seams. Ain’t Complacency Great, and the end sure does justifies the means.. HORSEFEATHERS

  49. “Kids are not as stupid as everyone thinks we are. We have all ready began to make up new yahoo names saying we’re 18 just to get into chat rooms. So, really yahoo has done nothing.”

    Actually, it is not hard to view the old user data, compare number of users at an IP address and the previous ages the IP address held.

    Ooops, did I say that? That is what I would do, and you kids, cheating and lying to people would get punished. Way into adulthood.

    Computer Fraud is a crime. Make ALL the fraudulent ID’s you want. Remember, you are soooo smart. Perhaps Mommy and Daddy will not feel like bailing your sorry butts out of jail when the REAL problems start.

  50. I think this whole thing is a good idea what the yahoo has done. It is good that children are not allowed to enter on adults chatrooms;however many children may still enter on them.I believe that on yahooligans they should create a kids chat so the kids can change their mind and go on kids chat rooms.

  51. I think you should go to fight rooms 5.. 7 18.,.. 10 and 22 and ban all them @$$ holes

  52. Yahoo only did this to protect themselves–that’s the only real reason. They may have prevented the lazy kids from accessing chatrooms, but every other kid can still access a chatroom if they really want to.

    My problem with all this? The fact that they took the easy way out of it!!!

    Rather than imposing a strict must-be-18-or-older bar on chatrooms (which still protects Yahoo), they just banned the whole thing altogether for those under 18. I have a problem with this because I use a chatroom for my group–an unofficial Harry Potter mock-Hogwarts website. We emphasize morals, kids’ well-being, etc. among our crazy HP-fandom goals, and we ban members who we suspect of being pervs or just anyone who’s there to track down kids, and we delete members if even the tiniest bit of illegal activity is sighted or reported. So far, we haven’t had any bad activity happen, but now that Yahoo has banned chatrooms, most of our members (including myself–I’m 17!), cannot access the chatrooms. We loved chatting with each other, but now we can’t do that.

    I’m sure that there are plenty of other teenagers (who are smart and don’t look for trouble) who don’t deserve to be affected by this. We can’t access innocent chatrooms anymore and talk about normal things. I was looking forward to a chatroom from Sir James Galway, a famous flutist, but I can’t do that now because under my current account, I’m under 18. Yahoo is going to lose a lot of people like this. I understand the need to protect kids, but like most of you all have said, this is the PARENTS’ job. Just because some parents are lazy and some kids are stupid enough to do stupid things like accessing adult chatrooms or talking freely with people who so obviously want to just have sex or something, doesn’t mean that everyone else should be restricted. There are and will always be places where kids can get caught by pervs.
    This is the INTERNET–it can never be safe unless parents take action for their own kids! Parents should put programs that block chatrooms, prevent downloads without parents’ permission, block adult pron websites, etc. Many of my friends cannot access chatrooms or download things because of these protection programs. It works, and at the same time, it doesn’t limit other people. THIS is what should happen!

    What, if Yahoo is going to block its group chatrooms to users under 18, is it going to kill Yahoo messenger too? Pervs send sexually illicit messages through YIM all the time, and with the webcams, it’s just worse. Is AIM going to do something? MSN? Eventually, are they just going to kill Instant Messaging? Hell, that’d be THE safest thing! It’d solve the whole problem of kids talking with strangers online!

    I’m just saying that I’m very upset that my group of over 300 (over 800 on a companion site belonging to the same group) cannot enjoy the discussions we have on Yahoo Chatrooms. Sure, we could move–but changes on a relatively large group isn’t easy. It kills group activity for quite a while.

    –A VERY frustrated teen of 17

  53. I have read yahoo and occassionly talk to someone. I have noticed the increase of childre using this service.If the parents cannot control there children don’t expect Yahoo to do the job for them.No parent control the siblings go down the drain and not by the Yahoo chat rooms.

  54. Yahoo chat rooms? Parents, while you’re monitoring your children on the net, check out the innocent Yahoo Games rooms. Here you can find eleven to seventeen year olds asking for online sex. Guess who’s watching them mom and dad? The eighteen to sixty year olds of both sexes licking their chops. Out of the four years of playing in Yahoo Games, not one child i’ve asked told me their parents watch what they’re doing on the net. Sad huh? If you’re child ever comes up to you and gives you a slap, it was from me. Wake up parents and be responsible.

  55. Lets, I don’t let my childern play with guns, have the car keys, drink, watch x movies, mmmmmmmmmmm maybe I should let someone else wacth them when they are on teh computer….
    Or better yet lets close all teh parks, movie house and skate places because pervs could be there. WATCH YOUR OWN CHILDERN!!!!!

  56. tthere are programs such as net nanny,, couldnt yahoo chat be added to the rooms that them programs dont allow

  57. yahoo knows that teenagers will STILL get into the chat rooms but what Yahoo did was protect themselves from any legal action by making it 18+. They know that teens will lie about their ages anf get into chat rooms. Yahoo basically is covering their ass so they don’t get a lawsuit every month. Oh and by the way i really can’t believe that Yahoo let these types of rooms exist for as long as they did. It seems as if whoever was in charge of the chat rooms never kept up with what was going on or did not care. If they did we might still have the user rooms and teen rooms. *burp* shazam!

  58. the problem is the f*** pedophiles … and yes of course yahoo should bann all user rooms….

    and one thing respect each others..there is freedom of speech but no abusing….

  59. I just never agreed with the sick chat rooms that were in the user created education area. It shocked me. Some education for a child. The parents are responsible for where their children go online. But yahoo is responsible for chat rooms with the names that some of those had. AOL has been filtering those types of chat names for years. As far as paying goes yahoo has a lot of spyware and ads. I don’t think anyone wants to pay for that. It probably is for the best to have yahoo monitors in user created chat rooms. That is more to supervise idiotic adults creating sicko name chat rooms like BabySex. It is the parents responsibility on the other end to watch the kids online with tools such as netnanny

  60. I am a parent AND a heavy user of Yahoo. So, just a couple of things; Yahoo is a tool. If a tool cuts you, would you blame the tool? No. Make a safety modification? Yes I would! So Yahoo needs to make adiquate and responsible provision to prevent both young people from being hit upon AND weirdo’s doing the hitting. Children are not tools. I would suggest they fall into three broad catagories – the blameless going about their business with their friends, the curious wondering what all the fuss is about, the active who will do it regardless.

    Would I trust Yahoo or an AI to protect my 6yo on the net? No. My 12 yo? Nope. Who would I trust? Me and my wife, thats who. How? By providing the kids with education about the net and the weirdies that live on it, a proper set of moral values and a sence of right and wrong!

    Ultimately you need to ask – who bought the pc and loaded Yahoo onto it – you or your kids? Duuh! Forgive me for stating the blindingly fvcking obvious but YOU buy a Pc, load Yahoo onto, leave it unattended except for a curious / active teenager ………. WHO IS TO BLAME???? Your Pc, your kid …….

    Yes I agree that Yahoo could and should do something about the bots and nutters. NO I dont think they should babysit OUR children!

  61. http://www.alwaysuseprotection.com/
    Why don’t parents read this. It’s ridicoulous that we’re all getting banned from this service. It goes into explaining real security for us and briefly child privacy. But in reality how many kids do you see on the news are getting raped? Maybe 1 – 50. But for the 99% of others we learn all about sex eventually and we prefer joke around a little bit, and quite frankly who cares. We are just teenagers nothing more.

  62. I agree that it is really time for parents to step up and start doing their jobs. I saw some one refer to the teens in the chatrooms as sluts and I think that is utterly rediculous. Most teens are in the chatrooms looking for attention that they don’t get at home mainly from there parents if parents would pay more attention to their kids and take the initiative to be more active in they’re kids lives then a lot of them wouldn’t be in the chatrooms in the first place. Everything starts with the parents and thats what they fail to realize that you build the foundation on which kids validate themselves if thier not getting it from you be sure thier getting it from somewhere and most of the time it’s from the wrong place. How do i know, well im 17 and i’ve lived this shit all my life this is not a sob story but a freakin wake up call. Older men have sent me explicit messages in the chatrooms even after knowing I was a minor and I was once takin advantage of by an older man that i met in the chatroom while i know I share some blame in the decision I made I know for sure that if my mom and dad had takin sometime out to valdate and pay attention to me none of that would have ever happened, I would have never been in a room listen to this man tell me that im pretty etc. etc. because my parents would have enstiled that confidence in me he wouldn’t have been able to tell me what i already knew. All im sayin is parents for the sake of your children step the fuck up validate your kids cause if you don’t somebody lookin to steal your kids innocence away will. I do commend Yahoo for taking the initiative to put an end to this foolishness but at the sametime i feel like they havn’t really solved problem cause like many of you said all a kid has to do is make a pro that says they’re 18 so…and then it think it’s stupid that they excluded teens altogether but then again makin teen rooms 17 and under would only pose the same problem so i guess there really is no solution.

  63. This is so stupid!!! What does yahoo think? Do they think they can make us stay out of our favorite chat rooms? Well I have news for them, they cant. Adults dont get it. They cant stop us. We are all unstopable. Parents this is to you, What makes you think we cant get in the chat rooms on our own? Because we can. Just because we arent 18 yet doesnt mean anything. We have our ways of geting what we want without you knowing about it. Us kids are sneaky and we will never stop being sneaky. Im only 15 so I have 3 years until I can get on the chat rooms. Kids, we have to stick together and yahoo might give up on the whole thing. So parents there is no stoping the unstopable. So just let us have our privacy and we might just talk to you when something is up. And Yahoo just quit while your ahead. And us kids, will never give up. Because like I said, we never give up, we always shoot for the goal. Meaning we always get what we want. Like it or not we do.

  64. i want to say something about the comment that shawn mande. Hip hop music is not the only type that talks about sex and violence, i listen to rock and that says alot of sexual things and things against god, so lets not all blame hip hop, because the kids are listenin to what we listen to, just in a different form, so don’t always try to put it on the black music. And I do believe in smacking the shit out of dumb kids

  65. Parents wake up and stop expecting websites to monitor your children. YOU DO IT. I swear they should have to have a license to parent. Ridiculous!!

  66. Kids are not as stupid as everyone thinks we are. We have all ready began to make up new yahoo names saying we’re 18 just to get into chat rooms. So, really yahoo has done nothing.

  67. Unfortunately any room with the word “teen” in it is going to be viewed as a “target” as if it was a war against the bad stuff that goes on. These are the rooms that these men go to to find young girls. It’s true that there are many ways minors can get approached by sexual predators. If i was a soldier in a war against sexual predators the teen chat rooms would be a target that would have to be eliminated because it is an outlet for the enemy to linger. Oh, and i’m sure that the legal hassles far out weigh the sympathy (if any) for the teenagers that want to spend hour after hour wasting their lives in chat rooms. *burp*

  68. I’m not going to disagree about the horrible parenting in this country because my parents have no idea what I do. I’m only 13 and I’ve seen first-hand what some of the internet sickos are out for. One huge problem in Yahoo! chat rooms is the bots becayse not only are they plain annoying, but they also promote all the sick things kids like me are exposed to on the internet daily. Another huge problem is that the kids in the world today are flat-out corrupt and mislead. I come from an extremely small but safe community where the “good kids” are clearly distinguished from the “bad kids” nearly 100% of the time. There are those aweful stereotypes that follow everyone around, but even so, you can tell who the kids are who are into drugs and who the kids are who haven’t smoked a day in their lives. With that said, I’d like to point ou tthat youth groups and chuches don’t put a ban on children under 18. They simply pay attention, something that sounds extremely simple, which it is. It seems somehow, however, that today, anything that requires any energy at all is too complicated and stressful for adults to accomplish, yet still they expect things to get done. The banning of Yahoo! chat under 18 is a purplexing topic indeed, but it really all comes down to parents and their children. Nobody’s perfect, but we atleast need to strive for something that isnt a completely chaotic society. Just get a clue people! Please!

  69. Entirely outside of the merits (or not) of the comments, I’m dismayed by the illiteracy, boorish language and attitudes bordering on DANGEROUS, displayed above. Some of you seem to part of the problem, yourselves!

  70. I’ve chated on yahoo for years now. I will admit that I have seen first hand some of what yahoo is trying to protect kids from. There is not one solution to this problem. To solve it one must start with the parents (who by the way ARE and will ALWAYS be responsible for what their kids do offline as well as online). Second its not yahoo’s job to keep the kids safe. They are the added security on top of the PARENTS. Parents now-a-days are unaware of what thier kids do and who they hang out with and what not. Mine gave us our freedom to do what we wanted but they ALWAYS had an eye and ear on us. Alot of this boils down to just plain old fashion lazy parenting and sometimes bad parenting. I’m sorry the internet isn’t a safe place. It never has been and it never will be. I’ve chated with people that have run into the “sickos” in the chat rooms and most of them were around 15. I’m sorry if ur 15 and you dont know how to handle a sick SOB like that then ur parents need to teach you. As far as kids younger than that yahoo should make a restricted area that parents must sign thier kids up for and it is extremely monitor out the wazoo. Montors are only good for chat room content but one can still use the messenger service to do it. So to be honest I really don’t think there is a solution to this problem. It’s like a virus. Ever changing, ever adapting to a new environment.

  71. look at it this way…WE could blame hilary for this….Giving GTA: SA is the SAME as banning user rooms.It’s these soccer mom’s who whine and get their way.I’m sick of it.Just BAN’em ALL I’m gone to MiRC

  72. now teens will just go to 20 year old chat rooms. and they will be just in the hands of pervs. cause they will look for the youngest person to a teen. and probably teens will just change there shit so they can go into a chat room.

  73. wtf are they thinking. honestly this is so stupid, i mean when they were kids they had to deal with the same shit. and no one cared. they just ruin it for all of us, why dont they put a 50 year old person and they would get the same crap. parents should do there work instead of ruining it for all of us. this is probly by far one of the most stupid thing yahoo could have done. if you go to other chat rooms its the same thing for 20, 30 etc.

  74. Guess what if you think that banning chat rooms will make the bad stuff go away will it hasn’t people with certain fetishes/interests are hanging in certain chat rooms by interest. For example Foot Fetishes hang in Fetishes:39. There is a list of these subjects on www.yahlist.net, be warned the foot fetish room is the mild one. My point is that simply getting rid of these user rooms didn’t make the subject go away it just swept them under the carpet. The more perverse rooms reformed right away in the regular rooms but the non perverse straight rooms are probably gone for ever!

  75. The whole thing is just stupid, Yahoo’s just making sure some lazy parent wont sue their asses because they didn’t realize their teen was chatting with a perv.

  76. Here’s a novel idea how about the people who are having the children actually take responsibility for them? Oh wait but that would be the parents wouldn’t it?
    Hey parents do your freaking jobs and stop waiting for everyone else to do it for you.

  77. i know about 50 teens that already made a new ID to make it appear they are 18 .so yahoo’s plan was just a waste of time for them and for the people that have to take time to make new ID. hmmm i guess more teens will now be able to enter the Adult chat area , they couldnt before if they were under 18. good job yahoo you just created a new problem. in few weeks all the kids will have a new id over 18 and the problems will just continue.
    and i agree with what most are saying, the blame should be the parents not yahoo. just like they need keep track of what there kids are watchin on tv they need to watch there internet habits as well.
    and to the person that mentioned the middle eastern people bein a problem, you are right iv noticed that too i get message from them people all the time asking if i got a cam or if i want to see them nude on cam, its very anoying. wich leads to my next thing, the whole cam thing in chat was the biggest mistake of all. kids are exposing themselves to the pervs making it easy for them. i think they should ban cam use in the chat rooms and that alone would solve at least half the problems

  78. This is pure economics, yahoo wasw free. When peopel lose a free resource, they move to other free resources. Its more likely that kids will jst move to other chatting areas than resort to making new profiles. As they say, easy come easy go. Same ohilosophy will eventually allowe the RIAA to defeat file sharing by a majority of people.

  79. i just got my self a new yahoo id but the whole problem i that my fav chat room is gone they deleted the entire teen categor . they are loosing all of us and they will be sorry and ya i have got a static ip. fairly_lover_m@yahoo.com

  80. Kids will still get in, but now the blame is shifted wholly to the parents instead of Yahoo.

  81. As has been stated- this is purely Yahoo covering their *ss, legally. You don’t think, for a minute, that “they” (giant corporate entity) actually care about your kids?

    As a parent of two younger children, I will simply say that as a parent, it’s up to you to explain to your children what they may find online & why you object. They look to parents for guidance & values. As I tell mine, “don’t do anything you wouldn’t do if I were standing next to you”.

    After that, the best you can do is to repeat it & cross your fingers. It’s quite naive to say “get rid of the PC”- all their friends have PC’s & you cannot monitor them constantly.

    If you care, give them the information they need to start to make their own, informed decisions.

    A realistic Mom

  82. Let me start by saying I am not a racist. However I have been in yahoo chat for five years. At one point it was fun but now all people want to do if fight, insult or talk sex. I have noticed the greater number of men who talk trash to the women are usually of the paki, muslim, indian race. And it really does not matter to them if you are a married woman. They still try to talk sexual to a person and they also try to show themselves naked on cam. My suggestion would be to cut off the middle eastern countries and I think that would solve alot of the problem. And I will repeat again, I am not racist. This is just my observation.

  83. So all of us adults that use yahoo chat as a break sometimes from our daily lives of bill paying, working, and tons of other crap should have to pay to chat with others because some parents dont teach their kids that it isnt ok to just jump and run to a guy that wants your address …most all over the victims of this crap are teenagers Im sorry but lay off yahoo and start blaming the partents and teens themselves for being stupid .

  84. dawn: what you say is stupid..first like Man-Chiken said..the ONLY people that have the same IP adress day after day..are the people who have cable internet and most broadband….SECOND….. those stupid adult blockers and programs that block kids from acessing those sites are easy to hack, and get around…not to forget they S L O W down the computer to a sluggish state..we use my cousins PC for movie editing, and he has one of the BEST blockers..the computer CONSTANTLY fails due to that program is ALWAYS on and takes about 50k of ram..thats more that AIM and Firefox COMBINED…Third… if a parent provides the internet, the computer, and the PRIVACY (not paying attentoin to what they are doing)..it doesnt matter what YAHOO or other chat rooms are doing. It is SOLEY the parents responsibility if anything were to happen…and as to the parents who think that others should be responsible…GROW THE F#*@ up and DO YOUR JOB AS A PARENT..if your that concerned of what they do on it…then take it away STOP ruining it for others you idiots

  85. whatever happened to children not being whores? when they go to “teen girls for older men” chatrooms, they’re just asking for trouble…lets ban all that stupid “booty shaking shit” on mtv and teach people morals again…all the teens that get “sexually explicit messages” are probably sexually active ANYWAY…this is not yahoo’s fault…its dumb, impressionable kids who follow trends like the crackheads who follow me around begging for change…when i have kids, everytime i see it listening to rap music or watching MTV, BET, or UPN, i’m gonna smack it in the face until it cries…

    kid: “dad, can i watch 2 Fast 2 Furious?”
    me: “FUCK NO BITCH!” (punches kid too fast and too furious)

    when i run for president, that’s gonna be my campain: “BAN HIP-HOP, AND SMACK YOUR KIDS SENSELESS!”

  86. Dawn: You obviously don’t know much about the nature of IP addresses and ISPs. AOL users can actually have a different IP address between requests, and they’re shared. This means that you’d be banning a large portion of people, and your ban would be ineffective as the person would just get a new IP again in another 5 minutes or so.

    Furthermore, Yahoo! is getting punished only because they were large enough and successful enough for people to notice them. Sure, they provided a chat service, but those parent’s provided the internet access to that service. The parents are liable, not the service. What a shame that parenting is now being substituted for corporate ethics.

  87. One of Yahoo’s big problems in chat is all the spambots that are there to solicit for pr0n sites. Having the children subjected to that filth is just crazy. Closing all the spammers IM windows in any Yahoo chat room is like playing a game of space-invaders. I am supprised Spitzer *only* had 35 filthy messages in 25 minutes, as you can get that many without posing as an under aged girl. I wonder just how many were from real people? One has to wonder why its so popular.

  88. My God. Parents of the nation, rejoice! You no longer have to pay ANY ATTENTION AT ALL to your children–Yahoo is going to do all the work FOR you! Huzzah! This is one of the more asinine things I’ve heard recently. Because God forbid that parents actually, oh, PARENT, their own children. Nonono. It’s up to the Evil Chatroom-Providing Coporations, who are CLEARLY to blame when their kid gets IMed by a pervert, to do that for them.

  89. the problem is not so much children in adult rooms as it is adults trolling in children’s rooms. when you allow anyone under the age of 18 into ANY venue, whether it is a restaurant or a chatroom, you are responsible for them. children’s rooms need to be monitored by a live person or at least an AI.

  90. Of course they’ll consider charging! A financial audit trail is of greatest
    assistance in reducing under-age participants… And, convieniently: Anonymity…
    The liability aspects are changed too. For both Yahoo and the Paying customer.

  91. Wow! I never thought parents would be issued a “Negligence License” but here it is! Don’t watch your own kids! Yahoo! will do it for you!

  92. I believe in what yahoo is doing as minors really dont belong in adult chatrooms, however, by taking out the minor chatrooms as well I believe they(mean yahoo ) are asking for trouble as more minors will make fake names with fake ages. I believe they should find a way to keep the minors out of the adult rooms as well as the adults out of the minors rooms. they should allow booting or bouncing from a room when it is discovered that a minor is using the name and it should be banned permenantly. find a way to ban the ip’s from those chatrooms. come on people that is an easy solution. I also believe that the Parents need to do more Parenting on this issue by educating their children on the do’s and don’ts of the big bad internet.. if a Parent has the money for a computer then they can search for a program that will not allow the children access to the information that children should not be privy too. Most of those programs are free. if the Parents were more responsible then there wouldnt be some many minors in the adult rooms and that chance of their children meeting a sex offender would be nil to none. yahoo can only due so much its up to Us Parents to do the rest!

  93. Parents need to supervise childred and if they cant then the puter should be in a lock up so they can not use it

  94. I am in DAL.net IRC network often enough that I don’t have to worry about losing Yahoo’s chat.

  95. Good for them! It’s about time the Nazi-Commie-Whiny-Baby-Can’t-Parent-My-Kids-On-My-Own-So-I’ll-Make-Society-To-Do-It-For-Me crowd had a major corporation on their side! Up until now they’ve just had a strange mix of Hillary Clinton and ultra-conservative morality cops.

  96. This will do nothing to stop it. There are plenty of other ways, including the sites such as myspace and tagged which do not require any verification of age, it is sites that actually encourage children and teenagers to join. Any adult could make an account at any one of these sites quite easily with little or no effort on their part. Yahoo has done nothing but moved the perverts to other sources.

  97. Ah the logic of all your comments makes me feel good about our population as a whole!

    This is not a hard one to figure out people. Yahoo! Is doing this as a preemptive strike to safeguard themselves against future lawsuits. If they require you to verify your age as well as placing “watchdogs” in key areas the parents (who are to blame for this anyway) do not have any legal ground on which to stand if and WHEN they decided to sue Yahoo! for allowing their children to come in contact with pedofiles.

    To the one that said something about IRC… Read what I wrote above. This has nothing to do with the HOW as much as it is about the WHO.

  98. WOW!!! They can’t be serious!! I bet 99% of all users are under age. That’s insane! Yahoo is cutting the branch it’s sitting on.

  99. ./ is here… Fuck the bitch limiting free speach. Also where is the dam parents?

    Silly people.

  100. What would prevent them from making a profile labeled as an 18 yr old and still get in though? MSN doesn’t have this problem because they started charging for thier service. The only way they are going to get the teens out of yahoo chat is to either start charging for thier chat service, or at least verify that they are 18 years of ago or older by entering some sort of proof. Even then if they don’t charge and just require proof, my 16 yr old daughter can still obtain my driver’s licence, SSN, or whatever form of id that she would need to sign up as an 18 yr old. I think I’d definitly notice if I started getting charges on my credit card though. So really yahoo hasn’t done anything except making it so they have to say they are 18 and they can still chat.

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