The New York-based network of niche sites said it would divest its Web sites that contain pornographic content following complaints by privacy-rights advocates.

About.com, which merged with Primedia in a mega-deal late last year, said it was in the process of "transitioning" the porn-related sites to an unnamed third party.

"Those sites only represent half a percent of our traffic and half a percent of our revenue so it is a non-issue for us," Primedia spokeswoman Suzanne Neff-Gibbons said.

Privacy advocates had called for Primedia to shut down the sites, arguing that the publishing giant should not mix its children-oriented offerings with a company that makes money from sex offerings.

Gibbons-Neff said Primedia had also instituted the "Adult Check" program earlier this year, which requires surfers to pay up to $19.95 for age-verification purposes.

Even though About.com says it has flushed the porn, a quick search on the site found sexually explicit content and pornographic images and advertising. Some pages within About's "Sexuality" niche site were still accessible for free this morning containing explicit banner ads.

The decision by Primedia to ditch the sex offerings follows the much-publicized decision by portal giant Yahoo! to remove adult-related content from its shopping channel.

Yahoo! said adult-related products -- like videos and DVDs -- will come off the virtual shelves in Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Auctions and Yahoo! Classifieds.

LATEST NEWS

Microsoft's Dynamics ERP to Gain New Services
Barnes & Noble's e-Reader Nook Sold Out Already
Memory Market Due for Big Shift in 2010
Microsoft: No 'Back Door' in Windows 7
Tech's H-1B Hiring Faces 'Employ America Act'

In addition, the company said it would no longer enter into new contracts for adult-related banner advertisements on the Yahoo! network. Yahoo! plans to implement the changes in the U.S. over the next five weeks.