Untitled Document
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.
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Pepsi, State Farm Insurance,
Countrywide Mortgage and several other large corporations pull their ads
from Yahoo after a Local 2 Troubleshooters investigation shows their ads
appearing on sexually-explicit chat rooms promoting sex with children.
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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.
"Short of changes in the law in Congress, we may be limited about what
we can do in this area," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said.
Gonzales told the station he can't use the laws now on the books to shut down
Yahoo!'s child sex site. But back in 2002, the station broke the story when
federal officials shut down a Web site called "Candyman" with those
existing laws.
The "Candyman" site was geared only toward trading child sex pictures
and stories, just like the Yahoo! rooms.
"By doing what they're doing here with the advertising, this is endangering
children and that's serious. I'm offended as a parent and I'm offended as a
child advocate," Clickman said.
Sponsors around the country are reacting to what the investigation found.
The station called Pepsi for comment and the company quickly pulled its ads.
A statement from Pepsi said, "We were completely unaware that our advertisements
were associated with these chat rooms in any way."
Countrywide Mortgage pulled its ad for refinancing because of the investigation.
The company said, "We took measures to ensure that a situation like this
could not occur again."
State Farm Insurance also pulled its ads, not only from the chat room but also
from all Yahoo! sites. The company said, "We will be suspending our online
advertising with Yahoo! until it provides us a detailed explanation of how this
situation was allowed to happen in violation of our contract, and until we receive
sufficient assurance that our advertising will never again appear on inappropriate
sites."
The same goes for Georgia-Pacific, maker of Brawny paper towels. Its ads were
pulled, and a spokeswoman said Yahoo! admitted it did not adhere to the advertising
contract with Brawny. The Troubleshooters found Brawny ads in a Yahoo! chat
room called "6 To 11 Year Old Girls Into Older Men."
Another big sponsor, T-Mobile, did not respond to the station's request for
comment.
"Yahoo! is aware of the situation now. They are put on public notice by
(KPRC) and other people about what is taking place, and they need to come up
with a solution to the problem unless they want the government to get involved
and hold them liable, either civilly or even criminally, for these types of
activities," Poe said.
Online ads just pushed Yahoo!'s income to more than double what it was a year
ago -- up to $205 million.
Yahoo! executives declined to answer the stations' questions but issued a statement
saying, "Yahoo! strongly supports law enforcements' efforts to combat illegal
activity on the Internet and works cooperatively with law enforcement to aid
in their investigations."
The statement also said Yahoo!'s terms of service do not allow illegal activities,
but those same child sex chat rooms are being hosted by Yahoo!.
The lawsuit against Yahoo! accuses the company of capitalizing on child pornography
when it hosted the Candyman site, and with the other sites like the ones the
station found still in action.
The lawsuit by the family of one child porn victim said Yahoo! could have removed
the sites, but instead chose to make money on them.