Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Microsoft Making a Big Move
Aired September 24, 2003 - 06:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Microsoft is making a big move it says will protect users. The company says it's shutting down Internet chat services in most worldwide markets and limiting them here in the United States. Microsoft says it wants customers, especially children, to be protected from unsolicited online communication.
Let's get more from CNN's Nick Wrenn, who's live in London -- Nick.
NICK WRENN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
Yes, the pressure has really been mounting on people like Microsoft, who have these chat rooms. Headlines in the U.K. and across Europe have equated chat room with menace. Very bad publicity. And as Microsoft admitted to CNN today, they have found evidence that pedophiles have been, as they say, grooming children on these chat rooms and it's time for them to get rid of them.
So they're shutting them down in most countries. And where they're keeping them, like in the U.S., you're going to have to get out your credit card to get online.
LIN: Nick, I'm wondering, is there any controversy at all about this, free speech issues, anything of the sort?
WRENN: Well, there is, and we've been speaking to people this morning who have been complaining that this is going to just create a digital divide. Free speech on the Web? That was yesterday. From now on, if you've got the money, you can join, you can pay. Free speech at a cost.
But Microsoft and other people like them say that this is necessary, that the menace has got too great, they've got to do something. The pressure has been building from governments, from police and from children's charities, too.
LIN: So, is Microsoft going to make money from this decision?
WRENN: Possibly not. I wouldn't have thought that Microsoft makes too much money from these chat rooms. They have a few banner ads on them. But I wouldn't have thought it would be a great amount of revenue generated from them.
They may find that they may, might make money from a market like the U.S., where there's just a critical mass of people who might want to continue using these chat rooms. What they are going to avoid, though, Carol, is a whole lot of negative publicity. LIN: All right, there you go.
Thanks so much.
Nick Wrenn reporting live from London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 24, 2003 - 06:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Microsoft is making a big move it says will protect users. The company says it's shutting down Internet chat services in most worldwide markets and limiting them here in the United States. Microsoft says it wants customers, especially children, to be protected from unsolicited online communication.
Let's get more from CNN's Nick Wrenn, who's live in London -- Nick.
NICK WRENN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
Yes, the pressure has really been mounting on people like Microsoft, who have these chat rooms. Headlines in the U.K. and across Europe have equated chat room with menace. Very bad publicity. And as Microsoft admitted to CNN today, they have found evidence that pedophiles have been, as they say, grooming children on these chat rooms and it's time for them to get rid of them.
So they're shutting them down in most countries. And where they're keeping them, like in the U.S., you're going to have to get out your credit card to get online.
LIN: Nick, I'm wondering, is there any controversy at all about this, free speech issues, anything of the sort?
WRENN: Well, there is, and we've been speaking to people this morning who have been complaining that this is going to just create a digital divide. Free speech on the Web? That was yesterday. From now on, if you've got the money, you can join, you can pay. Free speech at a cost.
But Microsoft and other people like them say that this is necessary, that the menace has got too great, they've got to do something. The pressure has been building from governments, from police and from children's charities, too.
LIN: So, is Microsoft going to make money from this decision?
WRENN: Possibly not. I wouldn't have thought that Microsoft makes too much money from these chat rooms. They have a few banner ads on them. But I wouldn't have thought it would be a great amount of revenue generated from them.
They may find that they may, might make money from a market like the U.S., where there's just a critical mass of people who might want to continue using these chat rooms. What they are going to avoid, though, Carol, is a whole lot of negative publicity. LIN: All right, there you go.
Thanks so much.
Nick Wrenn reporting live from London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
