were from were all offenses punishable by temporary banishment. The convenience of an automated system for MSN led to problems for its users, problems solvable by a person able to interpret positive and negative content. A significant reason for MSN Chat shutting down was that it provided another opportunity for pedophiles and other sex-offenders to have access to youth through the chat rooms. The MSNBC program, "To Catch a Predator", a show about catching child predators, showed children meeting up with online "friends" which they assumed were being truthful about their identity but, on the show, were revealed to be pedophiles. Closure In 2001, Microsoft closed access via IRC clients (including Comic Chat), asking users to exclusively use their browser client instead. In 2003, Microsoft announced that it would close "unregulated" MSN Chat rooms in 28 countries, including "most of Asia" due to problems with spam and concerns about child pornography, with plans to convert to a subscription model for "better accountability." Messenger chat services remained open. MSN Chat became a subscription service for $20/year. On August 31, 2006 Microsoft announced that MSN Chat would no longer be provided. On October 16, 2006 MSN Chat shut down their servers at about 11:30 a.m. EST. The service closed as allegedly MSN no longer deemed it profitable to run as a subscription service. See also Windows Live Messenger, another messaging service owned by Microsoft. Skype, a messaging service bought by Microsoft. References External links MSN Chat Administration Tools History of MSN Chat MSN Internet Relay Chat Online chat