New chat room icon to report abuse

A new icon will give young people using the Windows Live Messenger system the opportunity to link directly to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) website to report any suspicious behaviour that an online ‘buddy’ may be exhibiting.

Jim Gamble, head of the CEOP told the BBC: “What Microsoft and the CEOP are doing today is saying `enough is enough`. By working together in a very clear and tangible way we can safeguard children from online sexual predators. People always say you cannot police the internet abut I think that is nonsense. You can do it if you engage and empower the right people – the children using it.”

Carrie Bogner, Senior Director, Citizenship, Windows Live said; “We take the safety and security of young people online very seriously. People can already control who they do and don`t allow onto their Messenger buddy list – the new CEOP tab launched today is another safety feature that will make Windows Live and MSN Messenger safer still.

“What we are doing here is true partnership in action. As a global industry partner of the CEOP Centre and the Virtual Global Taskforce we can bring our understanding of the global nature of the internet and online communications with the knowledge and experiences of law enforcement to better protect children in our online space.”

On the announcement of the new system critics of the scheme pointed to a flood of reports that would come into forces across the UK. However, the CEOP has been able to more than cope with the number of reports that have come in so far. Some reports will go out to forces, but this number has been very low rebuffing the claims that the new service would swamp forces.