New York, N.Y. September 26, 2001- The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) is pleased to announce that Visionary Resources, a privately-owned teen content and information company based in Louisville, Kentucky, has made modifications to its Website, www.Y-Generation.com, by including a comprehensive privacy policy and implementing effective age screening at points of information collection or potential information disclosure.

Visionary Resources owns and maintains several popular sites such asY-Generation.com, iCHIK.com, TeenPerformer.com, and StyleMs.com. These sites are primarily composed of exclusive celebrity multimedia content. In addition to celebrity content, Visionary also provides its non-child audience with free eMail, contests, polls, eZines (eMail based newsletters), and non- real-time forums.

Given that Y-Generation's content features teen/tween celebrites such as Mandi Moore, Jessica Simpson and Aaron Carter, CARU considered it likely that the site appealed to the tween audience (9 to 12 years of age). During routine monitoring of Y-Generation.com, CARU observed that the Website was not in compliance with the CARU's Guidelines or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 ("COPPA"). CARU's overriding concerns with the Website were the lack of effective age screening, and the lack of a comprehensive privacy policy. Although given an opportunity to address these issues over an extended period of time, Visionary decided to immediately implement measures to address CARU's concerns.

CARU is pleased with the modifications Visionary Resources Corporation has implemented on the Y-Generation Website. Visionary Resources has also implemented several additional actions to go beyond CARU's comments and provide further mechanisms for the protection, privacy, and safety of its users. For example, all of the company's user documents/agreements were re-drafted to adhere to the new Visionary Privacy Statement. In addition, Visionary has ended all user- sharing relationships with external companies that collected information in a manner that may not comply with CARU Guidelines and/or COPPA. Finally, Visionary now has staff members reviewing its databases to find inappropriate users. If any inappropriate users are found, they will be contacted and/or removed from the company's systems in compliance with past and present stated policies.

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/CARU Case Report. Members of the press who wish to see a copy of the decision now should email CARU.

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The National Advertising Review Council (NARC) was formed in 1971 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Inc. (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation, Inc. (AAF), and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB). Its purpose is to foster truth and accuracy in national advertising through voluntary self-regulation. NARC is the body that establishes the policies and procedures for the CBBB's National Advertising Division (NAD), The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU), and the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).

NAD and CARU are the investigative arms of the advertising industry's voluntary self-regulation program. Their casework results from competitive challenges from other advertisers, and also from self-monitoring traditional and new media, including the Internet. The National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appeals body, is a peer group from which ad-hoc panels are selected to adjudicate those cases that are not resolved at the NAD/CARU level. This unique, self-regulatory system is funded entirely by the business community; CARU is financed by the children's advertising industry, while NAD/NARB's sole source of funding is derived from membership fees paid to the Council of Better Business Bureaus.