Four rape chat groups on ninemsn, the internet site co-owned by PBL and Microsoft, have been closed in a major embarrassment for the country’s most visited website and its co-owners.

It’s a little like the current airport security debate – even if you do check, what are you looking for in chat rooms that will identify them as being “naughty”? And what about chat rooms spreading terrorist messages, or even with instructions on how to smuggle drugs through Sydney airport?

This revelation shows that ninemsn doesn’t know what’s going on in chat groups because it doesn’t police them, but relies on group members to self-regulate the content. Ninemsn only closed the chat groups after they were discovered by an outsider.