ChatMaze.com's Official Response to the Recent Closing of Yahoo.com's User-Made Chat Rooms

The most used chat site on the internet today, Yahoo.com, has shut down it's user-made chat rooms. This resulted after major advertisers including PepsiCo Inc., Georgia-Pacific Corp. and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. pulled their ads from the user-made chat rooms section of Yahoo.com's site.

The companies removed their ads after a report from Houston television station KPRC about sexual predators searching for teenage and pre teen victims in Yahoo chat rooms. The news report showed that the sexual predators were able to create and name their own rooms to lure teens. Such user-created rooms had names including "Girls 13 And Under For Older Guys" and "Girls 13 And Up For Much Older Men" and were listed under categories such as "Teen Chat Rooms" and "Education Chat Rooms".

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The news report from Houston television station KPRC brings attention to the ever growing concern for the safety of teens on the internet today. Using today's modern internet technologies; instant messaging, email, chat rooms, and even live web cams are just a point and click away for most teens. Safe and moderated teen chat rooms are a start, but for parents it is only the begining. Know what your teens are doing online and educate them about the dangers of the internet and how to be safe online.

Never give out excessive or vital personal information in chat rooms or instant messengers. Vital information includes your full name, birthdate, street address or location, social security number, telephone number, and other personally identifiable information. Even such "innocent" questions as the name of a school can be used to track a person; so be careful. Never agree to meet in person somebody that you've talked to online. For more information about the dangers of online chat rooms and how to stay safe online, please visit ChatDanger.com.