New York, NY - August 12, 2004. The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., the children's advertising industry's self-regulatory forum, is pleased to announce that The Rodale Institute (Rodale) has modified kidsregen.org, Rodale's Website, to protect the privacy of children on its site. The site is a mixed audience Website with areas for kids, parents and educators.

CARU, which monitors Websites for compliance with CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising (the Guidelines) as well as with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), had found that when children clicked on the "Write To Us" page of kidsregen.org, they were invited to "Let us know what you're thinking…." The page continued, "Are you under 13? Read below!" "Do not email your submission. Mail your work and a submission form signed by your parent to …" Directly below, the following appeared, "Are you 13 or older?" "Send us your feedback here (all fields required):" The form then asked for name, age, state, country, email address, and comments/suggestions. CARU found that the form of age screening used on the site was not neutral, as required by CARU's Guidelines.

In addition, the process for joining the Kidsregen Kid's Club presented similar problems. Children were told that if they want to join the club, they should ask a parent to "submit the registration form below." There was nothing, however, to stop a child from doing so on his or her own. In addition, the form, which asked for the parent's full name, required more information than is necessary for a child to participate in the activity, and because many children have the same surname as their parents, would be disclosing the child's PII to the site, in violation of the Guidelines and COPPA.

When contacted by CARU, the operator immediately responded by making changes to the site. Rodale instituted age screening on the "Write To Us" page and now employs a tracking mechanism to prevent a child who originally enters an age of under 13 from immediately changing her age to prevent the need for parental consent. When a child enters an age of less than 13, the site supplies the child with a printable consent form to be filled in by the parent and then mailed to the operator.

With respect to the Kids Club, the operator now asks only for child's first name and date of birth and parent's first name and email address. The Club does not collect any PII from children, and merely uses the child's email address for sending out newsletters to those who join the club. The operator decided to notify all parents, regardless of the age of the child, of their right to opt their child out of the club and have their child's email address removed from the operator's files.

In a statement, Rodale said that it "remains committed to protecting the rights of children everywhere through full compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The Rodale Institute appreciates CARU's assistance in working constructively with Rodale to meet this commitment."

For a complete case report of the CARU decision, please contact Elizabeth Lascoutx at elascoutx@caru.bbb.org.

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.

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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.