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Targeting paedophiles A British computer programmer has created sophisticated new software that detects paedophiles trying to contact children in Internet chatrooms. The program works by giving a convincing impression of a young person taking part in a chatroom conversation, while at the same time analyzing the behaviour of the person it is chatting with. The Internet chatrooms are seen as areas where youngsters are at most risk of "grooming" - the term used to describe a paedophile building up a rapport with a victim. The ChatNannies program was developed by IT consultant Jim Whightman, the New Scientist magazine reported. Web beggars Beggars in China are moving off the sidewalks and into the virtual world, where they post sob stories and send e-mail appeals for money, reports Xinhua. Known as Web beggars, they use the Internet to seek out sympathetic souls. The Beijing News reported on one such mail from a Web beggar that said: "I am a Chengdu local. Dad died when I was a kid and mom is seriously ill. My girlfriend has just dumped me. I am so depressed that I cannot leave my home. Would you please help me with 10 yuan for a meal?" The sender left the name Li Dan and a bank account number. Li collected 168 yuan from all around the country. Online dating gurus Evan Marc Katz, a Los Angeles-based television and film writer, personifies the $ 400 million-plus cottage industry blossoming around Internet dating. The 31-year-old author of "I Can't Believe I'm Buying This Book: A Commonsense Guide to Successful Internet Dating" founded E-Cyrano (http://www.e-cyrano.com), which for $ 49 to $ 149 sells "profile makeovers" to cyberdaters who need help trumpeting their strong points. Some 40 million persons in the US are looking for love on the Web. Last year they spent an estimated $ 425 million on their urge to merge - which would make personals the Web's biggest content category except for pornography, according to research by the Online Publishers Association and comScore Networks. Profit-seeking entrepreneurs are rushing into the sector, turning out books and providing photo and profile services, as well as dating consultations and identity checks. PC for handicapped IBM Japan Ltd. said it had
developed a large-screen computer terminal offering easy Internet access
for the elderly and the handicapped, including sight-impaired. The
Japanese unit of US computer giant International Business Machines Corp.
installed its Internet-browser software onto a terminal with a 50-inch
plasma TV display developed by Pioneer Corp. The multilingual software,
capable of handling English, Korean and Chinese in addition to Japanese,
enables it to display information in large letters and read the
information aloud. The terminal will be marketed by the end of June with
an estimated retail price of just over 5 million yen ($ 45,400).
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