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Police also want credit cards used to access child porn withdrawn

A London summit of the International Virtual Global Taskforce also formed plans to work with credit card firms to tackle pay-per-view child pornography.

The Taskforce of international law enforcement agencies aims to make the internet safer for children.

National Crime Squad (NCS) Assistant Chief Constable Jim Gamble said the aim was "reassurance through visibility".

The Taskforce's different agencies will also work together to seize the assets of people profiting from child pornography websites.

Visible presence

The NCS in the UK and the US's FBI are heading the effort, which will utilise different time zones to monitor the web 24 hours a day.

If a paedophile is grooming someone online and this icon appears, how comfortable do you think they are going to feel? Assistant Chief Constable Jim Gamble Can we really police online chat?

Officers entering chat rooms will use an icon to alert other users to their presence.

Mr Gamble said the aim was a visible police presence, similar to officers patrolling the streets, to reassure the public and deter paedophiles.

"The police are going to be there overtly - there is nothing covert about this," he said.

"If a paedophile is grooming someone online and this icon appears, how comfortable do you think they are going to feel? Are they going to continue talking to that child, in case that child says to the police officer: 'This guy that is talking to me is behaving in a very unusual way'?

"There is no 'big brother' initiative here, this is about reassurance through visibility."

People using the chat room would be able to ask the police officer for advice, and efforts would be made to capture the details of anyone acting suspiciously to enable further investigation, Mr Gamble said.

Police sting

Tink Palmer, policy officer at the children's charity Barnardo's, said if paedophiles knew their internet conversation was being observed by a police officer it could stop them "in their tracks".

"If we can get to people who are starting off along this road, then we can work with them before it becomes an ingrained pattern of behaviour.

"People say, 'what about civil liberties?' but you have a virtual world out there - we have to police that to make it as safe as we can," she said.

The NSPCC's internet safety advisor Christine Atkinson said the project was an "important step forward in protecting children".

The National Crime Squad has worked in partnership with overseas agencies to combat paedophilia before, most notably on Operation Ore.

The operation has identified over 7,000 suspects and led to more than 1,200 convictions in the UK alone.

It also led to the development last year of the international police sting known as Operation Pin.

Forces set up sites appearing to offer child pornography.

Users are told they could face 10 years in jail and may have their details circulated to 180 countries.

Go Carefully with the Chatters

Through the following letter we will be introduced to the darker side of chatting.
Words and lines that appear on the computer screen during an on-line chat certainly appear harmless enough, but often they cause pain to those who receive and send messages honestly and with a clear conscience (perhaps naively) while they attempt to meet others on the net.  There are also those out there to whom this is no more than a game, a role playing opportunity and they emotionally entrap those we mentioned earlier.

Dear Andrea!
I would like to write to you about a negative presence in the chat rooms that I became an unsuspecting victim of.  I don't know how wide spread this problem may be (hopefully not very) but I don't think anyone should have the illusion that only well intentioned souls use the internet.  There are plenty of cheats there as there are in the real world.  This statement is strengthened by the fact that in Hungary, to an overwhelming extent, the presence on the Internet is male.

Without giving away the point of my story let me begin by telling you that I clicked on a an online dating service chat.  (Other than the IRC there's an increasing number of these Java chat's that may be reached without a client program, because all the new Internet search engines support Java).  It was a lot of fun to be kidding around with the people in the chat room but my main reason to visit was to meet a girl.  The second day I visited again and began talking with somebody whose nick was Julcsi.  After a half an hour or so I assumed I was talking to an attractive, intelligent college student with whom we have similar interests and who appears to be interested in me.  We agreed to meet the next day on the chat, but she was not there at the agreed time.  I've waited for two hours without really initiating conversation with anyone so that I would not be unfaithful.  After a while someone with a male nick entered the chat and immediately wrote me saying he knows Julcsi.  We began talking but there were too many contradictions in the person's statements and to me it became clear that he knows little if anything of Julcsi based on what information she gave me of herself the day before.  In the end he confessed that it was only a hoax and that Julcsi is really a male friend of his who was in the chat all along and even talked with me when I entered.  The next day he was there again.  When I entered he left and some time later Julcsi entered the chat.  I must say I was not impressed.

Unfortunately, I also think the attitude of Julcsis friend is pretty typical.  He said I should do the same to him but don't let on that I found out from him.  I did not feel this is how I wanted to behave.  It is possible that there are people who think such things are funny, but I think it is really a selfish act from people without a conscience who rob people of their time to amuse themselves.  It is really not necessary to be smart or clever to do this, they need only vicious intent.

It is fortunate that earlier I've met people on the net that were correct and pleasant.  If this happens to me the first time out, it probably would have been my last attempt at finding a partner on line.
If you should publish my letter in the Internet Kalauz then perhaps others will be more careful and in this case I would have a few other suggestions:

Since I don't want some embacils to get ideas from this letter and play the same game I will say that as far as I know, if a chat server archives the data of the chatters then it is possible to look back and check who and when entered from which ISP or host address.  This information will allow you to check through the ISP and perhaps identify the individual.  If the chat provider also archives the chat text there is every evidence to make someone legally accountable  in more civilized societies there are penalties for such things.  I don't know what kind of legal avenues are available in Hungary to deal with this.  Because of my experience I've lost only several hundred Forints in telephone charges and a couple of wasted hours.  Others may not have fared so well and perhaps could have given out personal information, intimate things about themselves not to mention allowing their emotions run away with them only to find out that the friend they've met told nothing but lies.  There are those who tend to forget that although the medium is virtual, the participants are real people with feelings.

I would like to mention a couple of things that should make people immediately suspicious in such a situation.  Hopefully, those who have not yet been hurt will not have to be in the future.

1) If someone appears to be overly desirable or perfect (highly intelligent, educated with many positive traits, no negatives, they are beautiful, rich, etc.)

2) Initially the person will ask many questions and give little or no information of themselves (evidently to find out those things that are important to you) and later his/her responses are amazingly like the ideal person you were seeking.

I would also advise the chatters of a couple of basic points:
1) NEVER give personal information on the chat that you would not provide to anyone.

2) NEVER tell anyone anything overly personal about yourself until you are 100% certain that the person you are talking to is 'straight' with you and the information you provide will not serve as amusement to somebody's sick curiosity.  You should suggest a quick telephone call fairly soon after you 'meet' to at least verify the individuals gender.

The Essence of Chat

There is nothing that will sharpen your wits, improve your typing speed, and challenge your ability to think on your feet more than a good online chat! A happening chat is a true adrenaline rush guaranteed to enliven the senses, challenge the brain, and get those fingers moving quickly across the keyboard. Unlike other features of MSNand UsaChatNowDOTcom, chat is a form of communication which takes place in real time. That is to say, messages you type in a chat room are instantaneously relayed to other people, and the messages they type in are instantaneously relayed to you. It's like talking through a keyboard.

A chat room is like an online theme party. You never know before you get there who will arrive or how many folks will show up. However, before you join the fun, you will usually have a general idea of what interests or subjects the guests will be talking about. When you get there, you may run into some people you already know, or you may be faced with a room full of friendly strangers. If it's a large group, you may get into side conversations with just a few of the people or the whole group may engage in one wide conversation.

Chat rooms are organized around various subjects and can be found throughout the different forums on MSN and UsaChatNowDOTcom. Practically every forum on MSN has at least one chat area dedicated to a subject relevant to that forum's focus. And for the ultimate chat experience, there's Chat World, an entire category chock-full of chat rooms.

Chat.Culture

Threads

Even though the text of a chat is visually structured like a theatrical dialog, the content of a real-life chat is never so neatly organized. Often one person will ask you a question at the same time another person begins to tell a joke he overheard on his way to work. Although it is important to be conscious of basic Netiquette, you shouldn't be afraid to just jump in and finish something that you were about to say even if it looks as though the conversation has moved on to another topic. Experienced chatters are used to having several communication "threads" happening simultaneously, and people will generally be able to follow responses that were given out of order.

If you have a long thought to express, do not feel that you have to type the whole paragraph in before you click the Send button. Oftentimes, a well-versed chatter will type a whole story in...
... one line at a time, indicating that the ...
... various lines of text are connected by ...
... ellipses at the beginning and the end ...
... of each continued line, as appropriate.

Convey More Than Just Words

When typing into a computer, the nature of communication can take on a cold, impersonal air. Often, something that seems perfectly appropriate when spoken does not play out so well when read on the typewritten screen. In written communication, you can't hear inflections, see facial expressions, or interpret body language. For example, the sentence, "Thanks a lot, pal," could mean either "Thank you very much, my good friend," or "Thanks, but no thanks, you jerk," depending on the tone of its delivery. In a chat, however, there would be no way to tell because there's no "tone" involved.

The sensitive chatter can avoid this dilemma by putting stage directions in brackets. It's common to add (also abbreviated as ), for example, before or after a friendly, light-hearted message that could be mistaken for a serious comment. Another old standard is . But don't just leave it at that. The imaginative chatter will often sprinkle in longer stage directions describing real or imaginary events. For example, , , or The Newbie Manifesto> are all appropriate stage directions. It is not uncommon for the archetypal chatter to be given a hug, offered a snack or drink, winked at, or hit over the head with a foam mallet. Proper Netiquette suggests that you play along with the imaginary machinations of your fellow chatter. That is to say, if you are offered a drink, refuse it, drink it, pour it over someone's head, but don't ignore it.

Have a Private Conversation

A smooth chatter will sometimes want a private chat area to discuss matters of a more personal or confidential nature one-on-one with another UsaChatNow member. This also may be necessary when you find that your chat area has become too crowded. Unfortunately, at this point in time, MSNand UsaChatNow does not provide for sending "instant messages" to individual members. There is, however, the Chat World category (Go word "chatworld"). If you explore Chat World, you will find a wide variety of chat rooms, including "Tables for 2," where you can have a one-on-one conversation.

You can also do a little surfing to find obscure, boring, or under-utilized chat areas. Then, if you find yourself in the middle of a crowded chat, you will be prepared to say, "Shall we continue this discussion somewhere else? I bet the Barney Fan Club chat room is probably empty."

Keep an Eye on Several Chats at Once

While initially it may take all of your brain power to keep up with just one chat room, experienced power-chatters are adept enough to keep their eyes on more than one chat at a time. MSN and UsaChatNow  makes this possible by allowing you to keep several chat windows open at once. By resizing them to all fit on your screen or through agile use of the Windows 95 task bar, you can eye a number of chats simultaneously.

One word of caution, though: if you are attempting to multitask your chats, make sure that when you send a message to a chat room, you send it to the correct one. Many embarrassing, funny, and scandalous situations could occur if you accidentally send the right message to the wrong chat.

Relax, You're in Cyberspace

Finally, a word of advice to timid chatters: cut loose and have fun! Often, the shy chatter may become so nervous about what he says in a chat that it can lead to a serious case of chatter's block. If you find yourself typing a sentence in the compose area, erasing it, typing another, and erasing it again, you've probably contracted chatter's block. There are many reasons why people develop chatter's block. The top three are:

• Fear -- Of what other people will think of you, of your writing ability, of meeting new people, or of the keyboard.
• Perfectionism -- The feeling that everything you type in must be perfectly composed and expressed.
• Time lag -- You type an answer to someone's question, but alas, the moment is "gone"; the conversation has moved on the another topic.

If you suffer from any of the above symptoms, you are probably taking chatting far too seriously. People, in general, are pretty forgiving in chats. And if they aren't forgiving, well, you probably will never meet them face-to-face anyway. Seriously, in a chat, everybody is trying to express (and type) complex thoughts quickly. No one will blink an eye at a typo here and there.

This is not to say that you shouldn't be mindful of good Netiquette and the terms of service of MSN and the terms of service with UsaChatNow. Don't go out of your way to offend people. Remember people on the other end of the chat may come from different backgrounds than you and may judge what is acceptable or offensive in a different way than you do. But if you approach chatting with good intentions, you'll have little to fear.