New York, April 22, 2003 – 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 solangemusic.com, the official Website of the singer known as Solange, in order to protect the safety of children on its site. Solange has appeared on the children's program "Taina" on Nickelodeon Television and her music, her life and the Website bearing her name are all attractive to children under age 13.

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 this artist could talk with visitors of any age and be "whispered" into private chats in the unmonitored chat rooms offered on the site. 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, although SONY asked for date of birth as a prerequisite for signing up for a newsletter, children, regardless of the date of birth entered, were added to the list, without parental notice and ability to opt out as required by the Guidelines and COPPA.

SONY has agreed to institute effective age screening at all areas where visitors were asked for or could enter PII. Those who are younger than age 13 will not be permitted to enter the PII, although they will be able to view any unrestricted portions of the site. In addition, SONY stated that any information previously collected from persons under age 13 would be discarded.

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.