COMPUSERVE TO RATE INTERNET CONTENT BY JULY 1

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'
Cyber Patrol, 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.

For more information, visit RSAC's home page at http://www.rsac.org, or
CompuServe's home page at http://www.compuserve.com.
 
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