------------------------------ From: dbatterson@ATTMAIL.COM(David Batterson) Date: 18 Feb 94 20:12:19 GMT Subject: File 4--Congress Online Congress Is Lagging Behind In Getting Online by David Batterson While the White House is now online and able to receive e-mail from citizens, Congress has languished behind--somewhat unsure of how fast to implement this new technology. Meanwhile, those of us who strongly favor e-mail access to government officials think that Congress is moving entirely too sluggardly. Who's right? Many would argue that e-mail is unnecessary, since we can already mail letters to members of Congress, as well as phone or fax them. However, fax machines were once as rare as sincerity on Capitol Hill, but now proliferate. The same is true with cellular phones; their usage has exploded. Likewise, it's fast becoming the same situation with e-mail. You cannot stop progress; e-mail is the next big wave of communications. While most Senators are not online, one prominent member of the U.S. Senate is: Ted Kennedy. According to staffer Chris Casey, "our office has been posting info to a small network of Massachusetts computer BBSs (bulletin board systems) and into two USENET news groups since early last year." [USENET is part of the huge Internet computer network that links up millions of computer users.] Casey also e-mailed me that "we're in the process now of implementing direct constituent e-mail access to our office. More people up here need to wake up to the importance of this type of access." I couldn't agree more. In a previously published interview, Kennedy said "constituent e- mail and electronic distribution of information are likely to become routine on Capitol Hill in the near future." He's right. The leadership and members of both the House and Senate should stop oozing along like molasses flowing uphill in Vermont. The time's are-a-changin' fast. If they refuse to provide constituent e-mail and online access, those elected officials should resign from public office. Oregon Rep. Elizabeth Furse, District 1, totally agrees with Kennedy, and has implemented constituent e-mail and a USENET news group for her office. Mary Fetsch, Furse's press secretary, said it's important for the representative's constituents to reach her online, since "it's a high-tech district, including the 'Silicon Forest' where we have Intel, Nike and other firms that are highly computerized." I tested Rep. Furse's system, and here's part of the form letter reply: "Thank you for contacting me through the House of Representatives' Constituent Electronic Mail System (CEMS). I am pleased to be a part of this effort to offer citizens a quick, efficient and environmentally sound way to communicate with their representatives in Congress." Online access to Congress is part of the Clinton administration's overall plans to develop a National Information Infrastructure. For a perfect example, the public has responded favorably to having text of the President's health care plan and NAFTA available online. When Ross Perot was running for president, online services, BBBs and e-mail systems were abuzz with blizzards of messages and information. Another strong proponent for public electronic access is curmudgeon and activist Jim Warren, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Warren was the organizer of the first Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy, and the founder of InfoWorld, a major computer industry trade paper. Warren not only wants to be able to e-mail members of Congress. In addition, he's pushing hard to "computerize the filing of and public access to state and local campaign-finance disclosures, officials' statements of economic interests, and state lobbyists' disclosures." Warren sees access to public records as one component of a broader issue, of computerization that allows online feedback to city/town, county/parish, state and federal officials/agencies, personal use, nonprofit-organization use, commercial/tax-paying use, public dissemination, and community discussions (town-sized to Village Earth)." In an e-mail message from Rep. Charlie Rose (D-NC), Chairman, Committee on House Administration, Rose said that "the results of the six month public mail pilot have been very encouraging. The nature and character of the incoming electronic mail has demonstrated that this capability will be an invaluable source of information on constituent opinion. We are now in the process of expanding the project to other members of Congress, as technical, budgetary and staffing constraints allow." In other words, it will take a long time for anything significant to happen. Unless constituents scream for online access, it will be slow in coming to their districts. In spite of the pressure, at present only eleven members of the U.S. House of Representatives have public electronic mailboxes that may be accessed by their constituents. The ten are: Sam Coopersmith (D-AZ), Jay Dickey (R-AR), Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Newton Gingrich (R- GA), Dennis Hastert (R-IL), George Miller (D-CA), Karen Shepherd (D- UT), Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-CA), Mel Watt (D-NC), plus Rose and Furse. There are a few hopeful signs on the Senate side, according to Casey. "The Senate recently set up an 'FTP server' that will allow any Senator or Senate Committee to post information on the Internet." Sen. Charles Robb (D-VA) also posts information and receives e- mail. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) "has or is near to begin posting info to a network in New Mexico," Casey e-mailed me. As Sen. Kennedy has emphasized, e-mail doesn't replace "traditional means of communication." That's true, since all replies to e-mailed letters will be sent by USPS until some distant point in the future. Getting a paper reply to an electronic message really defeats the purpose of e-mail--giving you only half a loaf. But for the stodgy House and Senate to even get that far is practically a miracle, so it's worth something. To e-mail Rep. Elizabeth Furse, use: furseor1@hr.house.gov. For more information on the House of Representatives e-mail system, e-mail congress@hr.house.gov. Rep. Furse's news releases and other information can be found in the USENET news group titled OR.POLITICS. For information on Sen. Kennedy's online developments, e-mail chris_casey@kennedy.senate.gov. ### David Batterson covers computers & telecommunications for WIRED, ComputorEdge, Computer Underground Digest, VICTORY! and other publications. His e-mail addresses are: dbatterson@attmail.com, dbatterson@aol.com, evfw91a@prodigy.com, and david.batterson@f290.n105.z1.fidonet.org. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ + END THIS FILE + +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+===+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=