New York, NY - February 14, 2001 - The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) is pleased to announce that Alta Vista Company (Alta Vista) has modified its Website in order to protect the safety of children. Until a week ago, Alta Vista was a full service Internet portal that, in addition to its search engine, offered such interactive features as chat rooms, photo albums, personal home pages and free Internet service including free email.

When CARU examined altavista.com in the fall of 2000, the language of the registration page "tipped off" children that they must be over age 13 to use the interactive services offered on the site by stating "U.S. law prohibits Alta Vista from registering anyone under the age of 13 without parental permission. Please verify your age below," and then asking prospective registrants if they were "less than 13 years old" or "13 or older…" Those who registered could freely access all interactive features on the site, including unmoderated chat rooms in which participants could post personal information and talk to users of all ages, and personal home pages, on which registrants could post personal information that would be accessible to other users of the Internet.

In addition, Alta Vista failed to prevent children and teens from registering for chat rooms listed under "romance and relationships," which were "adults only" clubs, or to block those under 13 from accessing pornographic pictures on its chat sites. While some "adults only" clubs required registration, others did not, and there was no need to register, or even give one's age, in order to view the pictures. Despite statements that one must be over age 18 to enter, in fact, a child of any age, by merely clicking "OK," could certify that she was over age 18 and gain access to the rooms. No request for date of birth or any other personal information was required. Even users registered as age 13 were admitted to these "Clubs."

CARU's inquiry was conducted under NAD/NARB/CARU Procedures for Voluntary Self-Regulation of National Advertising. Details of the inquiry, CARU's decision and the advertiser's response will be included in the next NAD Case Report. Members of the press who wish to see a copy of the decision now should email CARU at elascoutx@caru.bbb.org or pspaeth@caru.bbb.org.