CHICAGO, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week's admission by the National Weather Service that one of its sites used to track severe weather was compromised may be the prelude to a storm of another kind for Web sites providing user-generated content, according to an Aon technology expert. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO ) A series of phony weather alerts were sent this spring to the Weather Service site used by meteorologists to track the movement of severe storms. Kevin Kalinich, co-national managing director of Aon's Financial Services Group, says the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that Web sites can now be held at least partially responsible for some user-generated content. The ruling came as a result of a lawsuit filed against a Web site that was found liable for discriminatory postings. Kalinich says the new ruling means that sites that control user-generated content may be considered publishers and held liable despite the protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which poses new risk management challenges for the managers of those sites. He says, "The question becomes, 'should a site have a better oversight process?' Site managers may now be tasked to find a generally acceptable standard." In the past, Kalinich says, liability has been determined in part by what is called the "Reasonable Person" test, which asks what risk mitigation standards would a rational person accept as practical and appropriate. However, Kalinich says as user-generated content becomes more sophisticated and users become increasingly adept at site management, risk managers may no longer be able to rely on the broad parameters of the 'reasonable person' test as they evaluate risks posed to clients offering information on the Net. "These are questions no one has asked before," he says. "Now we have to find answers that work for everybody." About Aon Aon Corporation (http://www.aon.com/) is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting. There are 43,000 employees working in Aon's 500 offices in more than 120 countries. Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, potential regulatory or legislative changes that would affect our ability to sell, and be reimbursed at current levels for, our Sterling subsidiary's Medicare health product, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, ERISA class actions, the impact of the analysis of practices relating to stock options, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates. Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's financial results, is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Media Contact: Al Orendorff 1.312.381.3153 http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041215/CGW049LOGO DATASOURCE: Aon Corporation CONTACT: Al Orendorff of Aon Corporation, +1-312-381-3153, Web site: http://www.aon.com/

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