Investigation Shows Big Business Funding Sex Chat Rooms
Companies Pull Ads After Station Exposes Problem
UPDATED: 7:30 am PDT June 1, 2005
HOUSTON -- Several well-known companies have pulled ads from a popular online chat room service after an investigation by Houston television station KPRC revealed to them what their money was funding.
Yahoo! is facing a $10 million lawsuit that accuses it of cashing in on some disturbing chat rooms. The stations' investigation showed what's really going on in those rooms.
The companies are paying huge fees for their ads to appear on Yahoo!. But many are now canceling those ads because of the report. The discovery has prompted fast action in corporate America and a strong reaction at the nation's capital.
"Yes, more legislation is required. The law has not kept up with this type of criminal activity," U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, told the station.
Among the thousands of chat room titles, where people can look for common interests like music or movies, there are other rooms with some disturbing titles, such as:
9-17-Year-Olds Wantin' Sex
Younger Girls 4 Older Guys
Girls 13 And Under For Older Guys
Girls 13 And Up For Much Older Man
Girls 8 to 13 Watch Boys (In A Particular Sex Act)
The station found all of those rooms listed as education chat rooms, sponsored day in and day out by some major companies consumers have heard of -- all paying money for their ads to be seen before a person enters the child-sex chat rooms.
"Children are the largest victimized group in this country, and we need corporations to do the right thing," Child Rescue Network, Inc. spokesman Charles Clickman told the station.
Before entering the chat room titled "5 To 13-Year-Old Kiddies Who Love Sex" or "Girls 5 To 13 For Older Men," guests were required to click on a Star Wars-themed ad from Diet Pepsi.
Inside the chat rooms, not only were men trying to meet children or even take them away from home to run away, the station found countless adult men using Web cameras to send children in the room lewd pictures or display live nude images of themselves.
However, the nation's top law enforcement officers said it is all legal.
Link:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/4554266/detail.html