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[5834] daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave Farber) Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet 06/01/93 20:26 (90 lines)
Subject: FYI: White House EMail
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1993 20:25:47 -0500
From: Dave Farber
To: com-priv@psi.com
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of Presidential Correspondence
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 1993
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
IN ANNOUNCEMENT OF WHITE HOUSE ELECTRONIC MAIL ACCESS
Dear Friends:
Part of our commitment to change is to keep the White House
in step with today's changing technology. As we move ahead into
the twenty-first century, we must have a government that can show
the way and lead by example. Today, we are pleased to announce
that for the first time in history, the White House will be
connected to you via electronic mail. Electronic mail will bring
the Presidency and this Administration closer and make it more
accessible to the people.
The White House will be connected to the Internet as well as
several on-line commercial vendors, thus making us more
accessible and more in touch with people across this country. We
will not be alone in this venture. Congress is also getting
involved, and an exciting announcement regarding electronic mail
is expected to come from the House of Representatives tomorrow.
Various government agencies also will be taking part in the
near future. Americans Communicating Electronically is a project
developed by several government agencies to coordinate and
improve access to the nation's educational and information assets
and resources. This will be done through interactive
communications such as electronic mail, and brought to people who
do not have ready access to a computer.
However, we must be realistic about the limitations and
expectations of the White House electronic mail system. This
experiment is the first-ever e-mail project done on such a large
scale. As we work to reinvent government and streamline our
processes, the e-mail project can help to put us on the leading
edge of progress.
Initially, your e-mail message will be read and receipt
immediately acknowledged. A careful count will be taken on the
number received as well as the subject of each message. However,
the White House is not yet capable of sending back a tailored
response via electronic mail. We are hoping this will happen by
the end of the year.
A number of response-based programs which allow technology
to help us read your message more effectively, and, eventually
respond to you electronically in a timely fashion will be tried
out as well. These programs will change periodically as we
experiment with the best way to handle electronic mail from the
public. Since this has never been tried before, it is important
to allow for some flexibility in the system in these first
stages. We welcome your suggestions.
This is an historic moment in the White House and we look
forward to your participation and enthusiasm for this milestone
event. We eagerly anticipate the day when electronic mail from
the public is an integral and normal part of the White House
communications system.
President Clinton Vice President Gore
PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV VICE.PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV
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