THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996                 TAG: 9604130240
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY          PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BUSINESS WEEKLY 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   32 lines

BE ETHICAL ON LINE, BBB SAYS

The Council of Better Business Bureaus urges firms to adhere to ethical advertising and selling practices in the on-line marketplace. The bureau's traditional guidelines in the new cyber marketplace are:

Provide the physical location (address and phone number) of your company so that consumers can check on your reliability with outside organizations, like the BBB and consumer agencies;

Refrain from using advertisements which are untrue, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, falsely disparaging of competitors, or make insincere offers to sell;

Adhere to the basic principles embodied in the BBB Code of Advertising;

Comply with local, state and federal laws and regulations governing advertising and sales practices;

Refrain from using words in a company name which would mislead the public either directly or by implication; and

Refrain from unauthorized use of company names and logos.

Businesses, entrepreneurs, and consumers seeking information about ethical marketplace practices can contact the Better Business Bureau or use the BBB World Wide Web Server, located on the Internet at http://www.bbb.org. by CNB