Users of Windows Live Messenger can now report suspected sexual predators of children with a mouse click.
A "report abuse" icon will soon appear on the chat software as a result of work by the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
Users will be encouraged to click the icon when they suffer or witness inappropriate sexual contact.
CEOP said, if necessary, reports would be passed to police forces around the world to track down sexual predators.
"What Microsoft and the CEOP are doing today is saying is 'enough is enough'," said Jim Gamble, head of CEOP in a statement. "By working together in a very clear and tangible way we can safeguard children from online sexual predators."
Those clicking on the icon will be given advice about how best to capture evidence and take copies of online discussions.
Instant messaging programs such as MSN Messenger are hugely popular and give people a way to swap text chat with friends they know are online. Microsoft said it had "millions" of MSN Messenger users in the UK.
Because the reporting is not anonymous CEOP hopes to filter out any nuisance or malicious reports of abuse.
The tab will be seen on Windows Messenger and its replacement Windows Live Messenger.
View: BBC News
A "report abuse" icon will soon appear on the chat software as a result of work by the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
Users will be encouraged to click the icon when they suffer or witness inappropriate sexual contact.
CEOP said, if necessary, reports would be passed to police forces around the world to track down sexual predators.
"What Microsoft and the CEOP are doing today is saying is 'enough is enough'," said Jim Gamble, head of CEOP in a statement. "By working together in a very clear and tangible way we can safeguard children from online sexual predators."
Those clicking on the icon will be given advice about how best to capture evidence and take copies of online discussions.
Instant messaging programs such as MSN Messenger are hugely popular and give people a way to swap text chat with friends they know are online. Microsoft said it had "millions" of MSN Messenger users in the UK.
Because the reporting is not anonymous CEOP hopes to filter out any nuisance or malicious reports of abuse.
The tab will be seen on Windows Messenger and its replacement Windows Live Messenger.
View: BBC News
Although it's a good initiative I don't think it's worth implementing. I'm sure future versions of the A-Patch and Mess patch will allow users' to remove this button.
It still won't stop people from spamming the system. I mean, what would they do to people who send false reports? They can't ban them from MSN can they? Well, they could, but it wouldn't be right...
my thoughts exactly. Spam eggs sausage and SPAM!
Nevertheles its something, that might help those sexual predators off the kids..
So dont go "crying wolf"
sony4ever: The PS3 will be the greatest console ever made.
360rulez: No way, that overpriced piece of junk is going to flop.
sony4ever: It's worth it, I'd rather pay for it than a suckbox 360.
360rulez: Shut up you stupid fanboy.
sony4ever: (reports 360rulez as a child abuser)
sony4ever: The PS3 will be the greatest console ever made.
360rulez: No way, that overpriced piece of junk is going to flop.
sony4ever: It's worth it, I'd rather pay for it than a suckbox 360.
360rulez: Shut up you stupid fanboy.
sony4ever: (reports 360rulez as a child abuser)
LOL
360rulez: No way, that overpriced piece of junk is going to flop.
sony4ever: It's worth it, I'd rather pay for it than a suckbox 360.
360rulez: Shut up you stupid fanboy.
sony4ever: (reports 360rulez as a child abuser)
It'll get ignored and hopefully the sender will get reprimanded somehow. And if there is no evidence to back it up, it'll get ignored. I cannot imagine the tediousness of having to sort through the garbage that will be sent to "test" this system.
if you thought you were being abused the block button would do all you need to protect yourself, they wont ever get enough info to meet you.
i dont understand what this button does apart from satisy the authorities and protect themselves from a court case when someone gets raped after an msn meetup.
pedo
next:
trolls
idiots
fanboys
crossdressed
..
anyway, sounds like a great idea
the flaws: do MS have police backing? if not this won't work / will take ages to track people down and catch them
how can they prove a particular person was at the PC when the offence occured, won't stand up in a court of law imho
they can't stop people from registering false names
they can't stop people from using proxies or something
unless people are required to provide ID (such as NI no.) when they register this won't work
this could be mis-used by lots of teenagers, hopefully it won't be
In the end it all comes down to people using common sense to protect themselves from these dangers
What your talking about is not the same thing. This report goes to some agency, not the moderator of a message board.
I don't know why I care, I never use messengers, or chat or whatever else. But I guess I care because I'm tired of big brother.
I can see this being abused, and can also see it used to set someone up. Some kid fakes the whole thing and the Goverment raids their house ruining an innocent persons life. And yes, kids do lie despite what some in the media say... they lie more than adults do.
this "something" already exists, its called a parent.
I'm over 30. I don't want a report abuse button on my messenger
If a parent wants to allow their child to use a pc, the parent should do sufficient research before allowing them on the pc. It's a parent's responsibility to assess a situation and make a decision on whether it is safe enough for their child. If the child is of an age where it can't make its own judgements about people, the child should not be speaking to random people on the internet, nor should the child have a myspace profile with "random" pictures of said child in pseudo-adult soft porn shots. Ultimately, the parent should take an active interest in what is happening online, if they supply the pc, they should also police it. If they don't know how, they should find out. Parental ignorance is NOT an excuse, and falsely letting parents think that their kids are protected by a "report abuse" button is not going to help the situation.
bottom line, kids should be outside playing with their friends' balls
(...brb, police at the door.... who pressed the "report" button?!
This is a bad idea simply because it won't work, and will get abused. As someone else stated above, the people who got raped from net meetings etc, only met with them in most cases because they lied about their age. Why would they report someone they think it the same age as them?
If a parent installs WLM for their child, they are allowing them to use it, and should monitor what theyre doing. Some people dont want to report child abuse (Yes Microsoft, lots of WLM users are over 16/1
What would be better, is if the report button went into a file, and if the same user was reported, say, 3 or 4 times, then it should be investigated, and THEN sent on...
bottom line, kids should be outside playing with their friends' balls
(...brb, police at the door.... who pressed the "report" button?!
What i say, is rather than battle against genuine users of WLM, and force it into their faces, the agencies should crack down on Teen Chat sites, because its hard for someone random to add them, so they obviously get their Passports from somewhere.
< offtopic >
Does anyone else get those "MY Space Girls" spam IM on AIM?
</ offtopic >
Last edited by bmaher on 24 Aug 2006 - 13:53
i'm sure microsoft has techs smarter than me. this is my workaround to spam -
let's assume microsoft could make WLM save temp encrypted chat logs of EVERYTHING internally, for the sake of reporting.
1. user clicks report
2. user has to fill in particulars, and agree to send encrypted chat logs of that particular user
3. (those chat logs have no way of being modified)
4. chat logs sent to microsoft. bingo.
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