Leading Global On-line Information Service Emphasizes Support for PICS Rating System; Will Protect Consumers by Adopting RSAC Internet Content Advisory System By July 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- May 9, 1996 -- CompuServe Inc. today expanded its commitment to the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) rating platform and announced that all CompuServe content on the Internet would be PICS compliant by July 1, 1996. Additionally, CompuServe announced a corporate sponsorship of the Recreational Software Advisory Council on the Internet (RSACi) content-labeling advisory system, a PICS-compliant rating system that will be used to rate CompuServe's Internet content.

At today's Fifth International World Wide Web Conference in Paris, CompuServe added that it will encourage its third-party content providers and users with personal home pages to use the RSACi rating system. RSACi, or RSAC on the Internet, is the objective content-labeling advisory system for the Internet created by RSAC, an independent, non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Mass.

In addition to rating its own content, CompuServe will provide its users worldwide with access to RSACi through Microsystems' CyberPatrol blocking software, already available for free to CompuServe users. Microsystems' CyberPatrol, the first commercially available parental control software to support the PICS standard, enables consumers to determine the kind of material they choose to experience on the Internet.

"CompuServe today strengthened our commitment to empowering the user," said Denny Matteucci, CompuServe's president, Online Services Division. "It provides our users with the tools to shape the online and Internet experience to fit their own values. We will ensure that anyone who wants to use a PICS rating system to rate our content can do so. Further, we are sponsoring RSAC and will serve on its advisory committee because we support independent efforts to rate content without imposing censorship and limiting Internet access.

Added Stephen Balkam, executive director of RSAC, "When you recall that it was only four months ago that the International Internet community was struggling to retain an open Internet while facing the challenges of illegal pornographic content, this relationship signals just how quickly the industry has responded to the threat of government intervention. We're thrilled to be involved in such a broad-based, international campaign to provide consumers with a viable means by which they can set the levels as to what they and their children experience on the Internet."

At today's press event, CompuServe was joined by others in the online industry, to show support for the PICS initiative. PICS is an open industry standard that gives consumers the ability to filter out content they might find offensive. RSAC has been an enthusiastic supporter of the PICS standard, which allows the RSACi rating system to be read by browsers and selected software around the world.

RSACi empowers parents and consumers to make informed choices about what they and their children experience in cyberspace. The RSACi rating system is a fully-automated, paperless system that relies on a quick, easy-to-use questionnaire that the Web master (who owns/operates a specific Web site) completes at RSAC's home page [http://www.rsac.org]. The questionnaire runs through a series of highly specific questions about the level, nature and intensity of the sex, nudity, violence or offensive language (vulgar or hate-motivated) found within the Web master's site.

Once completed, the questionnaire is then submitted electronically to the RSAC Web server, which tabulates the results and produces the HTML advisory tags that the Web master then places on their Web site/page. A standard Internet browser or blocking device that has been configured to read the RSACi system can recognize these tags, enabling parents who use the browser to either allow or restrict their children's access to any single rating or combination of ratings.

The Recreational Software Advisory Council is an independent, non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, that empowers the public, especially parents, to make informed decisions about electronic media by means of an open, objective, content advisory system. RSAC's system provides consumers with information about the level of sex, nudity, violence, offensive language (vulgar or hate-motivated) in software games and Web sites. To date, RSACi has been licensed by Microsystems' Cyber Patrol Software SurfWatch Software, and Microsoft for use in Internet Explorer 3.0.

CompuServe (NASDAQ: CSRV) is an H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) company. Founded in 1955, H&R Block is a diversified services company and the world's leader in tax preparation and online information services. H&R Block Tax Services handled almost one in every seven returns with the Internal Revenue Service in 1995, serving 17.1 million taxpayers in more than 9,500 offices worldwide. CompuServe operates the most comprehensive online network in the world, providing services to more than 950 corporate accounts and more than 4.7 million users in more than 185 countries.