Search for Milly campaign reaches 4% of UK surfers.

     More than 650,000 Web users were exposed to the online campaign to find missing teenager Amanda 'Milly' Dowler during April 2002. According to NetValue, which tracked exposure to the campaign, this equates to roughly 4% of all UK home Internet users. Alki Manias, NetValue's UK MD, said: "This highlights the power of the Internet. By bringing people together to assist the authorities on such a high-profile case, everyone can work together to improve security among communities."

INK FROM ELSEWHERECLEMENS DESERVED MORE-SERIOUS PENALTY FOR BAT-THROWING INCIDENT

     Millions of Americans, young and old, witnessed a childish act by a grown man during the World Series: Roger Clemens became violent over a game. Clemens, a pitcher for the New York Yankees, hurled the jagged barrel of a bat toward Mets batter Mike Piazza. Despite this outrageous overreaction to a misperceived slight (the largest chunk of the broken bat ended up near the pitcher's mound through no fault of Piazza's), Clemens was allowed to remain in the game.

     He later was fined a reported $50,000 -- a pittance for such a highly paid athlete, and a penalty that well could be reduced, or covered by his team.

Clemens should have been thrown out of the game.

     And although the disciplinary official with the commissioner's office said "intent is always difficult to establish," the act speaks for itself. ... Roger Clemens deserves a serious punishment for his serious offense -- and young people deserve a better example from America's pastime. -- The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

     U.S. using blackmail to force states to adopt stricter DUI rule

     Everyone wants to make highways safe from the havoc of drunken drivers. Despite contradictory studies from its own agencies, the federal government has set a national standard for drunken driving.

     Ohio is one of 31 states in which a driver is legally drunk when the blood alcohol content is 0.10 percent.

     Congress has lowered that to 0.08 percent, a figure used in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

     States that fail to comply with the national standard by 2004 will lose federal highway money.

     Richard Finan, president of the Ohio Senate, has called this blackmail.

He's right.                                                                              

     Not only could this mandate cost the state money it needs for highways, but it could also affect county justice systems, which would have to cope with whatever additional arrests the new standard prompts.

      It's a bad law. -- The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal

      Racial, ethnic minorities face racial profiling on streets, in courts

You know something's wrong when both Jerry Falwell and Al Sharpton say it is.

The two outspoken reverends, who normally preach from opposing political lecterns, emerged from a meeting recently pledging a "united effort" to fight the all-too-widespread practice of racial profiling by police. ... The two may qualify as the strangest bedfellows yet to take up the cause, but they are by no means the only ones. ... A growing number of leaders and activists are coming forward to condemn the practice of singling individuals out based on race or ethnicity, not individual suspicion.

     Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress appear no closer to approving several modest measures that could minimize such discrimination. A bill that would require states to keep records on the profiling of drivers still languishes in committee, as does legislation to reduce the huge disparity between mandatory sentences for crack and powder cocaine. ... The street is not the only place where racial and ethnic minorities are subjected to insidious profiling.

     They face it in the courtroom and on Capitol Hill, too.

How long before federal lawmakers wake up to that outrage -- and start practicing the kind of equal justice they preach?

       -- St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times

     Federal government need not fret over `gap' in online access

It seems politicians are not happy unless they have some "divide" that a federal program can solve.

     For the last decade Washington has been fretting over the supposed gap between computer haves and have-nots.

     To some of the hand-wringers, the gap is economic.

To some, it's cultural separating racial and ethnic minorities from a white, presumably online majority.

     And to some, the gap is generational. ... All of which has been a cause celebre for the Clinton administration.

     Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta stumped for more computers and Internet access to minorities. ... But, by and large, it's no thanks to government.

     A recent survey showed that the percentage of homes with Internet access has doubled since 1999. ... Because the technology is continually improving, current computer owners upgrade their systems on a regular basis.

     That creates a huge supply of secondhand computers that might not have all the bells and whistles of the newest models but are still able to provide access to the information gold mine of the Internet.

     And while home Internet access is already quite reasonably priced, many companies offer free e-mail and Internet service. For those who simply cannot afford a computer, even a used one, most libraries offer access to all who walk through the door. ... -- Odessa (Texas) American

Web Watch: Uk broadband scene goes from bad to worse

And the outcome of the debate could have a bearing on the future of the internet in the UK.

The service is still restricted to a small number of people and will not be rolled out extensively until a little later this year.

But that hasn't stopped some internet service providers (ISPs) claiming it could severely test the capacity of broadband services when more people sign up.

The solution - surprise, surprise - is to charge more for monthly broadband access for heavy users of video content.

BT  has distanced itself from the reports, saying it has no problems with the new BBC service. But others have not corrected the impression that the eventual outcome could be some form of two-tier internet, with users paying for premium services.

It follows a survey by Which?  indicating that broadband speeds (mainly ADSL) in the UK were falling far behind those advertised.

People paying for download speeds of up to 8Mbps were actually receiving an average of less than 3Mbps. Some were operating at barely more than dial-up speeds.

You can check this yourself. On your home internet connection speedtest and follow the instructions. Depending on the time of day, I guarantee you will be surprised or amazed by the result.

The ISPs say speed depends on a range of factors, including distance from the phone exchange, quality of cables in the home and so on.

However, the bottom line is that we are miles behind other countries. Even when 24Mbps connections become more widely available - in 2008 - our counterparts around the world will still be streaking ahead.

A recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development underlined the fact that many Japanese users commonly have 100Mbps access at relatively cheap prices.

It's a similar picture in South Korea, Sweden and Finland.

In addition, Swedish consumers have the cheapest price in the world for entry-level broadband, at under 11 US dollars a month.

But this is not just about web users having better access to video content, convenient as that might be. Having the best possible data infrastructure is crucial for economic competitiveness in the 21st century.

As things stand, the US and the UK are well behind others in Europe and Asia.

The usual cry at this point is that installing better infrastructure is a costly business.

But look at what happened in France. Just six years ago it had one of the lowest rates of broadband availability in the developed world. Now it has sailed past the US, with standard download speeds of 24Mbps and fierce competition in the market.

The progress - and profit - has been such that some ISPs are to install their own high speed fibre optic networks, rather than relying on the government.

France has a high uptake of internet TV services and more than half of those with broadband connections regularly use them for phone calls.

If download speeds leave a lot to be desired in the UK, however, upstream speeds are even worse, verging on dire.

Yet these are equally important to businesses. The ability to upload large image or data files quickly can be crucial in deciding whether employees should work remotely, including from home.

While ISPs argue among themselves about charging for heavy use the Broadband Stakeholder Group which advises the Government has already warned that unless we take steps to prepare for next-generation broadband, it may be too late to catch up.

Its report, at, should be a wake-up call for everyone concerned.

Bill Law has 30 years' experience in IT and works in the industry for Fujitsu Services in Northern Ireland. The opinions expressed are his own and not necessarily those of Fujitsu Services.

Reshaping pilates: Tidal wave of popularity changes the regimen's precise movements.

     The Saturday morning Piloga class began in a way that would please most traditional yogis _ with meditative breathing. But as the cross-legged students exhaled deeply, the experience morphed into pilates.

     "Drop your abs towards your spine," instructed Randi Whitman, owner of Chicago's Frog Temple Pilates studio. "Pull your rib cage away from your pelvis."

For the next hour, the Piloga students flowed between the distinct disciplines of pilates and yoga, two of the fastest growing "soft" exercises in the fitness industry.

     For Whitman, blending the two mind-body practices has become more than a treasured creative outlet. Yoga and pilates _ a routine of exercises using mats or equipment that strengthens the muscles surrounding and supporting the body's core _ are necessary complements.

     But to Chicago's Juanita Lopez, one of the first pilates teachers in the Midwest, the mere concept of "Piloga," which can also be called Yogalates or Yogilates, is a dreadful adaptation of the real thing.

     "You can't mix and match," she declared. "One can benefit the other, and they're both classic systems, but if you mix, you don't get the benefit of either one."

More than ever, Americans are trying to get centered through pilates, a body conditioning system developed by Joseph Pilates and his wife, Clara, in the early 20th Century. But the explosive growth of pilates in the last several years _ participation has increased 176 percent between 2000 and 2002 _ and its popularity in health clubs have raised major concerns among pilates purists.

     Some fear that the updated, modern adaptations are watering down what Joseph Pilates, a native of Germany, crafted while interned in a London camp during World War I. Meanwhile, as demand has increased, so has the need for new teachers.

     Training programs have sprung up everywhere. But while some groups call themselves "official" pilates training centers, there is no national certifying body and no easy way to find out whether the instructor is qualified.

     The unbridled expansion began in 2000, when the courts ruled that pilates was a generic term, like yoga, meaning anyone can call what they teach "pilates." And they do.

What was once a lengthy apprenticeship taught by Joseph Pilates or someone certified by him is now accessible through weekend-long training courses and special $89.99 home Internet certifications, aimed at fitness professionals who teach in health clubs.

     The fitness industry didn't even track pilates before 2000, when 1.7 million Americans tried it at least once, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. In 2002, the figure more than doubled, when 4.7 million people participated.

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     Not surprisingly, pilates-related injuries rose as more people tried it. But what concerns pilates teachers such as Julie DeWerd, a physical therapist at the Pilates Studio of the Midwest, is that people will drop into a health club class with an inexperienced teacher and never reap the benefits of the "real thing."

     Pilates mat classes are ideally fewer than eight people for maximum individual attention. Whitman's Saturday class at the downtown East Bank Club, for example, is jammed with about 80 bodies.

     "With pilates, I had to physically do it myself before I could teach it," said DeWerd, who uses pilates techniques to treat everything from sports injuries to lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. "Most people who teach in health clubs have no idea what the exercise is or how it should feel. They're teaching a sequence of exercise they learned on a Saturday. Then people take a mat class, don't like it or get injured and never do it again. But they never did it in the first place."

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     Yoga, a 5,000-year-old discipline, also is booming thanks to health clubs while experiencing similar growing pains.

     But yoga _ now so Westernized there is a version for pets _ has dozens of branches and is much harder to codify.

      Pilates, which is relatively new and can be traced to a single man, still has a chance to pull the different factions together and preserve its integrity, according to the Pilates Method Alliance (PMA), which is developing national teacher training qualifications.

It is not an easy process. The non-profit PMA needs $300,000 to complete the 18-month certification for legal standards, a process it hopes to begin in June. To raise money for the national exam, local studios will hold fundraisers on May 15.

     "It's maddening for those of us who have been teaching awhile and very scary for the public because they don't know what they're getting," said Kevin Bowen, who founded the PMA out of concern for pilates' future.

     "We wanted to have a say about what was being lost with the proliferation of quickie training programs. It's happening nationwide," Bowen said.

     Pilates became known as a dancer's technique after Martha Graham sent her students to Joseph Pilates' New York studio. These days golfers, skaters, runners, skiers and professional football teams use pilates for the strength, balance and flexibility, not to mention long, lean muscles.

     Instructors say that pregnant women are flocking to it. And doctors are referring patients to pilates centers for additional treatment.

     But if it weren't for health clubs _ which have brought the world such things as chair pilates, step pilates, aqua pilates and yoga pilates _ classic pilates might never have made it into the mainstream.

     "A health club is a good way to get pilates out there and introduce it to people," said Laurel Silverman, 30, who teaches at both Frog Temple and Lakeshore Athletic Club Lincoln Park. "As long as people enjoy it, that's what matters. Everyone is looking for something different."

     Most teachers admit that the discipline has had to evolve to survive. Joseph Pilates, a strict teacher who was known for standing on his students' abdomens, originally published a manual with 34 exercises. Today there are more than 500.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

     Teachers such as Whitman at Frog Temple and Cindy Reid at Flow Inc. Pilates and Yoga in Chicago, who registered the term "Piloga" together, have found that combining yoga and pilates enhances the best of both systems. It also saves time for those who like both practices and exposes students to new techniques.

     "I don't think it replaces pure pilates instruction," said Reid, a pilates teacher who has practiced yoga for 15 years. "I'm simply augmenting it with specific yoga stretches."

Yoga poses that open the hips, for example, stretch the external rotators and hip muscles.

"Hip stretching is not built into the pilates repertoire but is definitely something today's bodies are lacking," Reid said. "I'm not inventing something new. For me, it's a way of bridging the gap, bringing pilates into yoga study and vice versa."

     While Whitman interspersed yoga and pilates during her Piloga class, Reid had her own style. She began with yoga poses, transitioned to pilates and finished off with the classic relaxation or corpse pose, a staple of all yoga classes.

     "The combination is effective," said student Stacia Buechler, 26, a Chicago attorney, who first started taking Reid's class at the YMCA in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. "Often in yoga, it's harder to do the poses right because there's not enough time spent strengthening the ab and back muscles. This is the perfect combination of flexibility and strength."

Anti-Spam Plan Forged by E-Mail Providers.

     Jun. 23--An alliance of some of the world's largest e-mail providers unveiled a plan Tuesday to slow the torrent of spam that now accounts for well more than half of all e-mail.

      At the heart of the proposal are two technological solutions that would help verify that e-mail is actually coming from the people who appear to be sending it. About half of all unsolicited e-mailed advertising pitches, nicknamed "spam," are sent with forged return addresses, according to Microsoft.

     Microsoft, America Online, Yahoo and EarthLink said they would test the two methods for the rest of this year, with a goal of implementing one or both after that.

"The bet is we're going to find that both strategies work very well together," said Miles Libbey, anti-spam product manager for Yahoo Mail.

     One method, backed by Microsoft, AOL and EarthLink, involves checking the address of an incoming e-mail against its numerical Internet identifier. It's the digital equivalent of the post office matching people's names with their registered home addresses -- if there's no match, the e-mail doesn't go through.

     The other method, backed by Yahoo, adds a unique digital signature, or key, to each outgoing message. The recipient's e-mail provider then matches the signature against another key to make sure it is authentic.

     "If we really want to make some real progress here, the first thing we have to solve is the identity issue," said Ryan Hamlin, general manager of Microsoft's anti-spam technology and strategy group.

     The companies, which formed the Anti-Spam Technical Alliance in April 2003, said they are committed to finding better ways to block spam from ever reaching customers.

It's a constant battle. As technology and federal legislation make life more difficult for the senders of unwanted e-mail pitches, many of them are turning to new technology tricks. They "spoof," or forge, e-mail addresses to avoid detection.

     They also use special software, often spread via infected e-mails, to hijack individual computers and turn them into "zombies" that send out thousands of pitches for everything from cheap mortgages to Viagra.

     "Spammers are quickly evolving and changing their strategies for not only sending mail...but also strategies for changing their identity and forgery," said Libbey of Yahoo.

Tuesday's proposal includes 21 recommendations for Internet service providers, e-mail marketers and consumers to help stop unwanted e-mail. For ISPs, the alliance recommended that they close common security holes and limit the amount of e-mail a user could send. (Thousands of e-mails coming from a home user is a common sign that computer is being used as a zombie.)

     The alliance urged consumers to install firewalls and anti-virus software and use spam filters to stem the tide. And legitimate e-mail marketers were urged to make it easy for recipients to opt out of pitches.

The guidelines were the first recommendations put out by the alliance, which was founded in April 2003. In March of this year, members of the group sued some spammers under the federal CAN-SPAM law.

     Some e-mail experts saw little new in Tuesday's announcements.

     " It is sort of the biggest players coming together to endorse a set of common principles, but there is certainly nothing controversial about these principles," said Ray Everett-Church, chief privacy officer of ePrivacy Group, which sells anti-spam technology.

He added that there still is no agreement on the key issue of a standard method for accurately identifying e-mail senders, which affects not only spam but also the e-mail fraud known as "phishing." In a phishing scam, an e-mail sender tries to trick a recipient into giving up sensitive financial information by pretending that the e-mail is coming from a bank or other legitimate business.

     "There are some deep divisions with regard to what is the most effective way to take on the identity issues that are so much a part of the spam and phishing problem," Everett-Church said. EPrivacy is developing an authentication standard of its own.

Spammers gain access to zombie computers through backdoor programs left behind by viruses. The increased use of "always on" high-speed home Internet connections has given spammers a ready supply of machines that can be easily taken over, said Michael Osterman, president of research and consulting firm Osterman Research.

Microsoft has said that about 40 percent of the spam it monitors is sent from zombie machines.

       "If the ISPs do make some headway into the best practices, we're going to radically reduce the amount of machines that the spammers can use," Libbey said