ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 1999-- A Leading Kid's Entertainment Site Receives Seal After Rigorous Assessment of Its Privacy Policy Procedures

BBBOnLine, a subsidiary of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), today awarded its first Kid's Privacy Seal to Nickelodeon's Nick.com, a division of Viacom International Inc.

The BBBOnLine Kid's Privacy Seal is part of BBBOnLine's Privacy Program, which assures consumers that a Web site has committed to respecting the personally identifiable information it gathers online.

"Nickelodeon has been at the forefront of working with policy makers and developing online mechanisms to protect children visiting their Web site," said Russ Bodoff, senior vice president and chief operating officer of BBBOnLine. "We commend them for passing the rigorous review process that precedes the awarding of the BBBOnLine."

"At Nick.com we put kids first and provide kids with a playground that aims to be safe and engaging at the same time," said Kris Bagwell, Senior Vice President, Nickelodeon Online. "It gives us great pleasure to be the first kids' Web site to receive the seal and we encourage other companies to pursue what will soon become the standard of privacy trustmarks on the Web."

Nickelodeon, along with its parent company Viacom, participated as active members of the BBBOnLine Privacy Steering Committee and has worked closely with BBBOnLine to take a lead in establishing the standards behind the seal program prior to the implementation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Privacy Seal Program

Web sites displaying the BBBOnLine Kid's Privacy Seal must meet all the requirements of the BBBOnLine Privacy Program and comply with additional requirements for children under the age of 13 which are based on the guidelines of the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Advertising Review Unit, Online Privacy Alliance, and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, including:

• with certain exceptions, obtain verifiable parental consent
• before any personally identifiable information from children can be collected, used or disclosed;
• obtain verifiable parental consent before children are allowed to
• post or communicate directly with others;
• provide warnings and explanations in easy-to-understand language; and,
• avoid collecting more information than necessary when offering children's games and activities.

BBBOnLine Kid's Privacy Seal participants must provide parents reasonable access to information collected from their children, and the ability to correct or remove that information.

About two dozen global companies, pioneers and leaders in e-commerce, have sponsored the creation of the BBBOnLine Privacy Program: America Online, AMR Corporation (American Airlines and Travelocity), AT&T, Bank of America, Dell, Dun & Bradstreet, Eastman Kodak, Equifax, Experian, Ford, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, J.C. Penney, MCI WorldCom, Microsoft, New York Times Electronic Media, Nickelodeon, Procter & Gamble, Reed Elsevier (LEXIS-NEXIS), Sony Electronics, US WEST, and Xerox.

Additional information on the BBBOnLine Kid's Privacy Program can be obtained at www.BBBOnLine.org.

Note: Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Online and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.