Dear Mr. President

[Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu>]

I applaud the Clinton administration for making itself available via
email.  I do not think it advisable, however, to send a single
cypherpunks letter.  Rather I urge all interested parties to compose
their own letters, and send them in separately.

Stress privacy, and technological defenses thereto.

At risk of offensively stating the obvious, I also urge the following
general writer's guidelines:

1) Engage brain before typing.  Think about the one thing you want to
talk about, and talk about that.

2) Do not be paranoid.  Do not rant.  These are a sure ways to
indicate that more money should be budgeted for public relations.

3) Be brief.  If you cannot summarize your argument into a single
paragraph, neither will the reader of the mail.  The mail system is
already overloaded, and concision indicates politeness.

4) Write in standard English.  Use a spelling checker, and use
complete sentences.

5) Offer to help.  Offer to make timely review of proposed policies.
If they accept your aid, keep your promises.

6) Have someone else read your letter for content and for form.  You
can do this yourself if you put the text aside for a week or two.
Remember that obsession with keeping every cleverness you think up in
a text is the surest way to ensure that it never improve.

Eric