Experts From NBC News, L.A. Times.com, Better Business Bureau, To Speak At Webwatch Conference at National Press Club

News Advisory:

-- Experts From NBC News, L.A. Times.com, Better Business Bureau, To Speak at Webwatch Conference at National Press Club

-- Oxford/Harvard Professor Jonathan Zittrain to Keynote; Poll Reveals Web’s Reputation at Risk, with Low Trust of Kids’ Sites, Financial Sites

Leaders from media, industry, law, consumer organizations and others join Consumer Reports WebWatch at its third “Trust or Consequence” conference of 2005, “The Web’s Reputation at Risk,” at the National Press Club Ballroom (http://www.press.org) in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, Oct. 26.

The one-day event kicks off with a press conference to release results from WebWatch’s second national poll of U.S. Internet users over 18. The press conference will also be available by live Webcast starting at 9 a.m. Oct. 26 at http://www.ConnectLive.com/events/crwebwatch.

The poll revisits trends from WebWatch’s influential and groundbreaking national poll of 2002, “A Matter of Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites,” published at the project’s launch and the source of its internationally successful campaign to create and publicize guidelines for improving Web site content. The poll also looks at new trends that will be the subject of further WebWatch research in the months to come: news and information Web sites and blogs; sites for children; and financial services sites.

Oxford Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation Jonathan Zittrain, a dynamic speaker who uses humor, pop-culture references and lively insights to illuminate his subjects, keynotes at the conference.

At this free event, WebWatch will host four panels to discuss the most compelling and surprising results of the poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, and the issues they pose for the Web.

To see the conference agenda and to register, go to http://www.consumerwebwatch.org and click “Conferences.”

The following are the titles and schedule of the forums:

Concurrent Morning Panels:

-- “Schemers, Scammers and Blasted Spammers: Where the Web’s Reputation is Most at Risk”

-- “More Turn to Web for News, But are Skeptical of Photos and Take Blogs with a Handful of Salt”

Concurrent Afternoon Panels:

-- “Monsters Under the Bed: U.S. Parents, Fearful of Web’s Dark Side, Hold Kids’ Sites in Low Regard”

-- “Online Banking Catches On, but Financial Services Sites Face an Uphill Trust Battle”

Don’t miss the opportunity to meet:

-- Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Internet governance and regulation, Oxford University; co-founder, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School (keynote address)

-- Robertson Barrett, general manager, LATimes.com

-- Warren Buckleitner, editor, Children’s Technology Revue

-- Jodie Bernstein, counsel, Bryan Cave LLP

-- Steve Salter, vice president, Better Business Bureau Online

-- Jeff Gralnick, special consultant, Internet and New Media Technologies, NBC News

-- Rich Jaroslovsky, editor-at-large, Bloomberg; founding president, Online News Association

-- Mitch Lipka, staff writer, Philadelphia Inquirer

-- Elizabeth Frazee, TrustE

-- Fred Ritchin, director, Pixel Press; former photo editor, New York Times Magazine

-- Jared Spool, founding principal, User Interface Engineering

-- Bob Sullivan, technology correspondent, MSNBC; author, “Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic”

-- Joseph Turow, Robert Louis Shayon professor of communication, The Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

-- Steve Waldman, editor-in-chief and co-founder, BeliefNet.com

-- Evans Witt, principal and CEO, Princeton Survey Research Associates International

-- Beau Brendler, director, Consumer Reports WebWatch

Admission to the conference is free, but pre-registration is required. To register, go to “Conferences” at http://www.consumerwebwatch.org.

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About Consumer Reports WebWatch:

Consumer Reports WebWatch is the leader in investigative reporting on trust and credibility in the online marketplace. WebWatch uses the proven methods of Consumer Reports to produce comprehensive research, breakthrough conferences and serves as a daily resource of unbiased and trustworthy information. Its research agenda includes entire online marketplaces, such as travel, search, health, financial services and more. WebWatch is a project of Consumers Union and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. WebWatch’s investigative reports, articles and news are available to the general public at http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/ . In 2005 WebWatch was ranked in the top 10 most-trafficked sites among more than 100 Knight Foundation grantees, in the company of PBS.org and NPR.org.

About Consumers Union:

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, is an expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To achieve this mission, they test, inform, and protect. To maintain their independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers. CU supports itself through the sale of its information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants. Consumer Reports content can be found online at http://www.ConsumerReports.org. Consumers Union’s public policy work can be found online at http://www.ConsumersUnion.org.

Contact Information

Susan Lindner

Media Contact

Consumers Union

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