E-Mail Baloney, Part 2

[mulivor@orion.crc.monroecc.edu]

Here's a press release that came to me yesterday. In particular, see
last paragraph.

Phil Mulivor

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House of Representatives Announces Public Electronic Mail Service

To: National Desk
Contact: Lance Koonce of the Committee on House Administration,
         202-225-7922

   WASHINGTON, June 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Chairman Charlie Rose and
Ranking Minority Member Bill Thomas of the Committee on House
Administration announced today the pilot program of the Constituent
Electronic Mail System.
   This groundbreaking new service will allow citizens to communicate
directly with their Member of Congress by electronic mail. The
House of Representatives has established an electronic gateway
to the Internet, the vast computer network that is used currently
by over 12 million people worldwide. Participating Members
of the House have been assigned public mailboxes which may be
accessed by their constituents from their home computers.  In
addition, many libraries, schools and other public institutions
now provide, or soon will provide, public access to the Internet.
   The Members of the House of Representatives who have agreed to
participate in this pilot program are: Rep. Jay Dickey (AR-07),
Rep. Sam Gejdenson (CT-02), Rep. Newt Gingrich (GA-06), Rep. George
Miller (CA-07), Rep. Charlie Rose (NC-07), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark
(CA-13), and Rep. Melvin Watt (NC-12).  These Members will be
making announcements in their congressional districts within the
next few weeks to make their constituents aware of the new service.
   The Constituent Electronic Mail System represents a significant
effort by the House of Representatives to expand communication with
constituents.  With the tremendous growth of electronic mail over
the past several years, and the increasingly inter-connected nature
of computer networks, the new service is a natural addition to the
current methods of communication available to constituents.  At the
present time, House Members involved in the pilot program will
largely respond to electronic mail messages from their constituents
by postal mail, to ensure confidentiality.
   Constituents of House Members participating in the pilot program
who wish to communicate with those Members will be asked to send a
letter or postcard stating their interest to the Member's office.
The request will include the constituent's Internet "address," as
well as that constituent's name and postal address.  This process
will allow Members to identify an electronic mail user as his or
her constituent.
   The pilot e-mail program will continue until sufficient feedback
from participating offices has been collected to allow improvements
and modifications to the system.  When House Information Systems
and the Committee on House Administration are satisfied that the
system is sufficiently error-free, other Members of the House will
be allowed to add this new service as technical, budgetary and
staffing concerns allow.
   For more information, Internet users are encouraged to contact
the House of Representative's new on-line information service.
Please send a request for information to CONGRESS@HR.HOUSE.GOV.

 /U.S. Newswire  202-347-2770/