New York, NY - February 5, 2002 The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) is pleased to announce that Sony Music Entertainment (Sony) has agreed to modify its Websites, destinyschild.com (the official Website of the popular female music group, Destiny's Child), jessicasimpson.com (the official Website of the pop star Jessica Simpson), and b2klovesyou.com (the official Website for the male pop group B2K), in order to protect the safety and privacy of children who visit those sites. In addition to information about new recordings, concerts and photo galleries, these sites provide such interactive features as chat rooms and message boards, and also offer free emailed newsletters and clubs to fans of these groups who visit the sites.

CARU, which monitors Websites for compliance with CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising (the Guidelines) as well with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act(COPPA), had found that children under age 13 who are fans of these artists and groups could easily participate in the interactive features on these sites, without prior parental permission or notification. These children could talk with visitors of any age and be "whispered" into private chats in the unmonitored chat rooms offered on each of these sites. This was possible because, although Sony had provided age screening to determine the age of visitors and informed children under age 13 that they were too young to enter this chat room, it had not instituted a tracking mechanism to insure that a child could not change her age to avoid being barred from the interactive features. In addition, children under age 13 who wanted to sign up for an email list were often asked to disclose personally identifiable information (PII) (such as first and last name, street address, city and state, zip code, and email address) without the need for parental consent, notification or the chance to opt out as required by the Guidelines and COPPA.

CARU commends Sony's decision to modify these sites. Sony worked cooperatively with CARU to institute age screening and tracking mechanisms, which will prevent underage users from pressing the back button and immediately reregistering as an older child. Visitors under age 13 will not be able to participate in the interactive features of the sites, while still being allowed to view the many non-interactive areas of interest to fans of these artists. Tracking mechanisms and age screening will be instituted at all areas of Sony sites where visitors are allowed to disclose personally identifiable information or where they are asked to submit their email addresses or other personally identifiable information.

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.