Portions of the following information are drawn from previous postings on the NPTalk discussion list. It is difficult to know for certain whether the Internet has helped to make more high-quality policy information available to the public, or simply more information.

Think about what you like about e-mail. It's pretty basic, easy to use regardless of the specific client, platform, operating system, etc. Now think about what you don't like about e-mail. It piles up quickly, is pretty static in terms of the range of content that can be delivered, and it's not rally good for time sensitive information if recipients are not paying attention to their inboxes.

A staggering amount of personal information is contained in federal court records, almost all of which is available to the public by federal law-- but relatively little of it available in electronic formats that promote greatest public accessibility, ease of use, and remote public access through online means. Locating information about, and within, the legal arena, therefore, can be a time-consuming task, requiring no small amount of digging among paper courthouse records in an attempt to piece together information to inform advocacy activity. You Get What You See(?)

E-mail messages are important not only to the intended recipients, but also to a growing number of third-parties as well, especially to marketers, solicitors, and distributors of "junk mail." Pixel Tags: Smart Cookies or Dumb Crumbs? If you think junk e-mail is worthless, you might want to think again. A Forrester Research estimate predicts that the e-mail marketing industry will generate some US$4.8 billion by 2003, and that by 2004, the average US household will get 9 pieces unwanted or unexpected e-mail solicitations a day.