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Yahoo puts age, content restrictions on chat rooms

Yahoo Inc. will bar chat rooms that promote sex between minors and adults and restrict chat rooms to users 18 and older.

The changes come under an agreement with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning.

"This is about protecting kids," Bruning said.

Spitzer said authorities did not have to resort to litigation. He said Yahoo, "acting as a good corporate citizen . . . did the right thing. We asked them to create a filter to stop this kind of thing, and they have done so."

In June, while in discussions with the attorneys general, Yahoo voluntarily closed its user-created chat rooms after complaints that some had names suggesting they facilitated illegal conduct, including sex between adults and minors.

Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said Yahoo is determining whether and when user-created chats would be restored as it makes improvements "to enhance the user experience and compliance with our terms of service."

If they do get restored, the agreement calls for Yahoo to review the names of such rooms ahead of time and reject any deemed inappropriate. Even if a room's name is innocuous, Yahoo will bar any whose postings encourage sex acts between adults and minors, purging such chat rooms within 24 hours from when it becomes aware of them.

The company also is eliminating the teen chat category and limiting usage of chat rooms to adults, although it was not clear how the company would prevent children from signing up as adults, because credit cards aren't required.

Among the illicit chat rooms removed were those with labels such as "girls 13 & up for much older men," "8-12 yo girls for older men," and "teen girls for older fat men." Many of these were within the "Schools and Education" and "Teen" chat categories.

Wi-Fi in the hotel room may not be a premium amenity much longer. Nearly one in 10 hotels around the world will have broadband in rooms by 2009, according to In-Stat, a technology research and analysis firm. In a new study, the Scottsdale, Ariz., company projected the number of hotels with broadband will grow from 14,300 to 54,000, triple the current level.

"Growth in the next few years will focus on two- and three-star properties in North America, as well as increased deployment in Europe and Asia/Pacific," said Amy Cravens, an analyst with In-Stat.

Where broadband is installed, she said, "It will be pushed into new areas and new applications." North America is the largest region for hotel broadband, representing about two-thirds of connected properties, In-Stat found.

JibJab is going commercial with Jay Leno while exploring "product placement" revenue opportunities in its animated films.

The irreverent minds behind the Web shorts, which were highlights of last year's presidential campaign, showed their latest episode on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Big Box Mart pokes fun at huge retail chains. The short is available at JibJab.com and Microsoft's MSN Video (video.msn.com).

Gregg Spiridellis, co-founder of JibJab Media Inc., announced an exclusive content relationship with MSN that will have JibJab's next five animated shorts "airing" on the Microsoft network. MSN will sell traditional TV advertising around the animated shorts, and the producers will work with advertisers to include their products and services in upcoming episodes.

A looming question among ardent video gamers is when Microsoft will release Halo 3, the next installment of the blockbuster game responsible for much of the Xbox's success.

If their Web sites are an indication, retailers are expecting it to arrive between May 15 and June 2.

Best Buy's site listed Halo 3's release date as May 15, right around the time of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, a major games-industry trade show in Los Angeles. Target's Web site at Amazon.com said it would have the game available June 2, and both sites were taking advance orders.

Xbox chief Robbie Bach denied the Best Buy shipping date. "I don't know what this is, but the information is simply wrong," Bach said via e-mail.

The retailers could be speculating about the timing, although sometimes their Web sites inadvertently reveal details of hotly anticipated products. Best Buy could not be reached for comment.

Speculation about Halo 3's timing is rampant among fans, since the game won't be ready when Microsoft ships its new Xbox 360 console Nov. 22.

Halo, which takes game players through an episodic science-fiction tale, is Microsoft's best-selling Xbox title and gave the console a vital boost after they were launched simultaneously in 2001. Halo 2 was released in November.

Best Buy Co. Inc. has begun testing the sale of used video games. The company, the world's largest consumer electronics retailer with more than 870 stores in the United States and Canada, is experimenting with the idea in "a handful" of stores, said Jay Musolf of Best Buy.

Musolf declined to comment further on the matter, saying it's too early in the test.

Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Anthony Gikas said in a research note Friday that there is a "reasonable chance" that Best Buy will carry used video games in most of its stores in the next two years.

"One of Best Buy's core competencies is the ability to roll out new products and services very quickly, and used video game product sales could be just around the corner at all stores," Gikas wrote.

The testing is confined to a few stores in California and Illinois, Gikas said. However, in the stores that are part of the test, Best Buy is offering "huge selections" of used video games. One store had more than 5,000 games. Credit on trade-ins could be used at any department in the Best Buy stores where used video games are being sold, Gikas wrote.

Among other benefits, Gikas said, sales of used video games would improve Best Buy's profit margins. New video game software sales have a gross margin of 20 percent, compared with 45 percent for used games, Gikas estimates.

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[Last modified October 14, 2005, 18:02:02]