FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ABORN Press Release Adoptee Civil Rights Activism Webring and Website Removed Hours after a planned mailing to every member of the United States House of Representatives. Lycos and Tripod unresponsive to repeated inquiries for explanation of Actions taken. SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2000, 3:00 PM CST: At approximately 1:30 PM CST on Friday, March 17, 2000, the ABORN (Adoptees and Birthparents for Open Records Nationwide) Webring and Webpage were taken down without warning by the Free Homepage provider Tripod that is run by Lycos, Inc. ABORN is a grassroots non-profit Adoptee Rights Activism Organization that is working to restore civil and constitutional rights to adult adoptees. ABORN also provides information to hundreds of adoptees, Birth Families, and Adoptive Families on a daily basis concerning a variety of issues dealing with adoption and the adult adoptee. The actions taken by Tripod came hours, if not minutes, after ABORN members had finished sending out informational packets to every member of the United States Representatives on Friday Morning. The founders of ABORN and many of their members feel this was a direct result of actions by their opponents in an effort to stop the spread of their message. The removal also comes within days of another Adoptee Rights related website being taken down by America Online (AOL). The owner of the other site is still in communications with AOL over the actions and the situation has not been resolved as of release time. ABORN Newsletter Editor Michelle Konieczny states, "In reviewing Lycos and Tripod's Terms of Service Agreements we have failed to find cause for their actions in regards to our Webring and Site. They have been totally unresponsive to requests for explanation. In light of the fact that these actions were taken within hours, even minutes, of completing our Congressional Mailings, we feel that there is more to this than meets the eye." Ms. Konieczny also states that, "The Congressional Mailings were the result of Hundreds of hours of work performed by our ABORN Members, and is perhaps the biggest undertaking of this sort by an Adoptee Rights Activism Group in the recent past. The removal of our site could have disastrous effects for our entire movement if it is not back online by the time our packets reach Washington."; "An important part of the mailings is the Online Petition that ABORN created for support of the Class Action Lawsuit that we are preparing to bring against the United States Government for Civil and Constitutional Rights Violations. This petition is currently signed by over 10,000 supporters and we are receiving more petition signatures everyday. With the removal of the petition page along with the rest of our site they have temporarily slowed our efforts in that regard. Despite that fact, our morale remains high and we would like to assure our supporters that this is a temporary situation. All our work is on hard copy, and none of our work has been lost or destroyed in this attempt to limit our rights to Free Speech." ABORN's Webmaster stated, "There was no warning whatsoever by Tripod or Lycos that there was any content on our website that was considered unacceptable. The site was working fine at 1 p.m. CST but was unfunctional completely at 1:30 P.M." The Webmaster tried to contact Tripod via e-mail, phone and fax from 1:30 PM CST Friday March 17th 2000 until after Midnight and received absolutely no response whatsoever from Tripod or Lycos. So far the situation remains unresolved. "We are asking you to write, call and fax Lycos and Tripod to respectfully demand that our Webmaster be allowed access to our site to put it back online." The ABORN Webmaster has just completed putting the site back up at a different server. The address is as follows: http://pages.prodigy.net/jeepdrivinggenius/ABORN.Webring/Aborn ABORN Webring members please write to Jeep Driving Genius (JeepDrivingGenius@prodigy.net) for information on how to rewrite your webpage coding. Ms. Konieczny also adds, "On behalf of ABORN members, Adoptees and their supporters across the nation and the world, we would like to thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter and your continued support." Neither Lycos, nor Tripod had returned our requests for comment by release time. Lycos Contact Information: 400-2 Totten Pond Road Waltham, MA 02451 TELEPHONE: (781)370-2700 FAX: (781)370-3412 Online Feedback Form: Http://www.lycos .com/feedback If you own stock in Lycos please contact the following address: Investor-relations@lycos.com Members of the Press Contact: Press@lycos.com If you are an advertiser on Lycos or Tripod please contact the following: http://www.lycos. com/lycosinc/advertising.html TRIPOD CONTACT INFORMATION: Please e-mail the following addresses: Tripod Feedback Online Form: http://help.tripod.com/feedback Membership@tripod.com Bugs@tripod.com Copyright@tripod.com Lycos-Network@whowhere.com FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING ABORN PLEASE CONTACT: Jeep Driving Genius: JEEPDRIVIN GGENIUS@PRODIGY.NET Gen Goad: Ozarkwoman@webtv.net Michelle Konieczny: RRecordsRRight@aol .com NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS: http: file://pages.prodigy.net/jeepdrivinggenius/ABORN.Webring/Aborn ABORN ADDRESS: Rt. 4 Box 361 Adrian, MO 64720