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Nice to know that after all these years, as jaded as we are, the Net can still make us shake our heads and say, "Man, that's weird." The Terra Lycos network's newest set of ads will be "virtual wanted posters" created with help from the FBI. Media accounts stressed that this sort of thing has never been done before. Gosh, wonder why?

The con in question is James "Whitey" Bulger, a fugitive mobster of mythical proportions in the Boston area. Despite his position on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, we suspect he's known to the rest of the world -- if at all -- mainly through a throwaway joke in "Good Will Hunting." Terra Lycos' US headquarters are in a suburb of Boston, and we're sure their PR people are loving the potential for local glory. Considering how effectively users ignore online ads, however, we'd say it's a pretty small potential.

But anything's possible. Said the FBI's Michael Sullivan, "It might simply be a clerk in a grocery store bagging groceries, goes home that night, gets on the Internet and says, 'you know, I think I saw that person bagging groceries today.'" (That's it! Whitey's bagging groceries somewhere under an assumed name! Just kidding, Michael, we know what you meant.) The Lycos ads will feature a picture of the now 73-year-old Bulger and a gentle reminder that information leading to his arrest is worth a cool $1 million to the Feds.

FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz seemed to be in charge of explaining this one to reporters. "It's really kind of an experiment to see what happens," she told ComputerWorld. At least Lycos is running the ads for free, so unlike many online experiments, this one isn't costing anyone any money.

Coverage of this bizarre stunt was, alas, remarkably similar to Terra Lycos' press release. UPI did distinguish itself by providing an incorrect URL for the FBI. Hint: Government agencies are at generally located at .gov addresses -- at least fbi.com isn't a porn site like whitehouse.com. What's more likely: that the FBI will bust mobsters with banner ads, or that the media will get the hang of this wacky Net thing one of these days? - Jen Muehlbauer

FBI, Web Portal Team Up in Fugitive Hunt (AP)
http://tinyurl.com/3gfy

Manhunt for Bulger entering cyberspace (Boston Globe)
http://tinyurl.com/3gfz

Internet co. to broadcast 'virtual posters' of Whitey
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/bulg12112002.htm

Wanted on the World Wide Web
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,107925,00.asp

Terra Lycos Aids FBI's Hunt For a Most-Wanted Criminal
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1039651937910628193,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)

FBI takes manhunt to cyberspace
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021211-021328-3778r

The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm

United Airlines' finances are scary enough. But here's a thought to boost the fear factor: Imagine if the U.S. government owned it. That's the situation in Greece, where state-owned Olympic Airways now has to cough up $200 million the European Union says it owes, and rumors of bankruptcy swirl. Olympic's story has percolated through the Euro-media for weeks, but the airline is no longer alone in its EU battle, and the drama is now getting coverage in stateside media. And why not? It's a tale of power, money, and power.

What's going on? Media coverage involves a lot of talk of treaties and commissions, but here's the gist: Right now, each of the EU's 15 members has its own aviation pact with the US. The EU wants to scrap those in favor of a single treaty. Global-market advocates drool over the possibility because, according to the Wall Street Journal, the US and EU account for half of all air travel. If the two hammered out a pact, all other airlines would have to fall in line, thus paving the way for a single, open market.

But only the strong need try to book passage in this new world order. To that end, EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio is ruffling feathers throughout the continent with her Darwinian declaration that state aid to troubled carriers is at odds with EU goals. It's cheating, she told the New York Times. Not to Greek officials, who told reporters they'll appeal the $200-million decision. Do that, the commish warned, according to the Associated Press, and "everything will have to be examined once again. And I mean everything." Definition? To de Palacio, that means the $1.5 billion in aid that Greece has funneled to Olympic since 1994. That could be more trouble than it sounds: AP says Olympic hasn't published its financial accounts since 2000; Olympic told the Financial Times that's because the airline's lack of a centralized system means it can take up to two years to produce figures that can be accurately audited.

Olympic isn't the only winged weakling getting sand kicked in its face by the EU. AP says De Palacio also ordered Air France to repay some of the $55 million it received from the French government to weather the post- Sept. 11 economic slump. Also reported to be in de Palacio's sights is Ryanair, the low-cost Irish airline, which is accused of receiving illegal state subsidies from a Belgian airport.

Hey, wait a minute -- aren't such subsidies precisely the kind of government handout that U.S. airlines have lined up for? Well, yes. As the New York Times pointed out -- in an easy-to-miss article, placed as it is in the newspaper's snoozy World Business section -- the EU's "hard-line stance" sharply contrasts with that of the U.S., which has shelled out billions to airlines since Sept. 11. Which leads us to wonder about the bigger story here: Could the EU and the U.S. ever come to terms on such a pact? Utopia is nice to fantasize about, but hard to execute. - Deborah Asbrand

Greece Fears Bankruptcy at Olympic (Financial Times)
http://tinyurl.com/3gm4
(Paid subscription required.)

Regulators Face Turbulence In Quest to Rule the Skies
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1039606176976240153,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)

Olympic Airways Bailout Was 'Illegal'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2565447.stm

Olympic Airways Ordered to Return State Aid
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/business/worldbusiness/12EURO.html

Ryanair 'did not receive illegal state subsidies'
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=360754

BBC Online Faces Inquiry
http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,7496,858003,00.html

BoA to Pay $1.6bn for Mexican Bank Stake (Financial Times)
http://tinyurl.com/3gm5

Coke taps president to fill gap at the top
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/business/coke/1202/12heyer.html

Senators Grill Bankers Over Enron
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42744-2002Dec11.html

A New Twist in Halliburton's Asbestos Tangle
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/matthewgoldstein/10058212.html

Sexism 'rife' in cyberspace
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2562601.stm

Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jimduffy86@yahoo.com).

Editor and publisher: Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com).

Media Unspun is produced by The Vineyard Group Inc.
Copyright 2002 Media Unspun, Inc., and The Vineyard Group, Inc.