Consumer Reports WebWatch LAUNCHES NEW COLUMN INVESTIGATING SCAMS AND SCHEMES ON THE WEB

Founder and Managing Editor of Time.com and ABCNews.com to Write Biweekly Column for www.consumerwebwatch.org

September 16, 2003 YONKERS, N.Y. -- Consumer Reports WebWatch, a non-profit research project with a mission to improve the credibility of online content, today debuts a new investigative column by Robertson Barrett, which will run twice a month on the Consumer Reports WebWatch site.

The increase of online scams has raised a red flag for many consumers. Now, more than ever, consumers are concerned about the safety of using the Internet to shop, bank and find information. Barrett's new investigative column is an effort to provide Consumer Reports WebWatch readers with answers to their credibility questions and educate consumers about potentially dishonest online practices. Barrett's column is driven by reader inquiries; if there is a credibility issue you would like addressed, please contact Consumer Reports WebWatch.

Barrett has written previous articles for Consumer Reports WebWatch that provided readers with important advice on spyware and Internet anonymity tools. He served as a spokesman for Consumer Reports WebWatch on these and other issues in the national press.

"Rob's a true Internet pioneer and is not susceptible to marketing hype, doubletalk and techno-baloney," said Beau Brendler, the project's director. "Having him aboard is a major step toward fulfilling Consumer Reports WebWatch's mission in a personalized way."

Barrett's first column tackles dubious charity claims made by e-commerce sites as a way to drive business. He investigates whether AmericasCalling.com — a site owned and operated by W. Craig & Company, an online marketing firm — lives up to its claims to donate two percent of subscribers' monthly long-distance phone bills to NoHungryChildren.org, a site also owned by W. Craig & Company that purports to donate funds to charities.

In his column, Barrett also provides consumer tips for finding out whether cause-related giving campaigns are legitimate.

Beginning today, Barrett's column will run twice a month on www.consumerwebwatch.org. In addition to founding and serving as a managing editor for Time.com and ABCNews.com, Barrett also served as vice president and general manager of The FeedRoom, a nationwide broadband news network in partnership with NBC and Tribune, and of Channel One Interactive, the educational television network's new media division.

Consumer Reports WebWatch is a project of Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine and ConsumerReports.org, the Web's most successful magazine-based paid-subscription site, and is supported by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.