White House Obfuscates Email 915
markgo2k writes "Do you want to email the president? This John Markoff, New York Times story (reprinted here in the non-subscription Seattle PI) details how the White House no longer promises to read anything you send to president@whitehouse.gov. Instead, you must navigate a multi-page website AND confirm your submission via email. Oh, and they only want to talk about subjects that are of interest to them." The web-form system appears to be a bit overloaded at the moment.
Hmm (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a good thing (Score:5, Interesting)
Now with the new system they can have some DBA write script to pump out statistics on what kind of feedback/problems/etc most people are writing about. They can actually get a real number and say "we got 10,000 emails this week and 67% of them disagreed with such and such policy." Plus, they can weed out the junk mail. Can you imagine how much spam he must've gotten. Do you think the Pres was using SpamAssassin?
Cire
Re:I'd rather not have to deal with the DOJ... (Score:5, Interesting)
It would make perfect sense for the Republicans to send out emails for contributions to those on the "for" list.
Re:I'd rather not have to deal with the DOJ... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Bush administration doesn't talk much about policies in the Middle East except those related to Iraq or to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Try asking about Israel's nuclear weapons.
Or Saudi Arabia - definitely intimately involved with Al-Quaeda, unlike Iraq.
Just like a bunch of other corporations (Score:5, Interesting)
Any Paypal customer with a problem typically has an impossible time calling and talking to a real live person, and personal attention to electronic mail is virtually non-existent. According to Vince Sollitto (PayPal spokesman), Paypal intentionally makes the phone number very difficult to find in order to save costs. This is fine, except their Email "customer service" also leaves a lot to be desired. Many times you will get a canned response that doesn't address your initial Email message, if you get a reply at all. It doesn't do any good to complain anyway. When asked about customer complaints, Sollitto said the company reads them, but takes them with a grain of salt...
Just reminded me of the White House. Congress hardly responds to what the people want (file sharing, etc) why should the President be any different?
"Supporting comment" / "differing opinion" (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe that button isn't such a bad idea.
Re:Israel's nuclear weapons do not matter (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:I'd rather not have to deal with the DOJ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Contributors to the campaign, friends and relatives have other means of reaching these people, the public points of access are just garbage chutes for straw-polling and allowing the Secret Service to gather and track death-threats and such.
This is not ALWAYS true, but from talking to people who have worked on The Hill, I'm certain that it is the case far, far more often than not.
One time, I sent mail about Echelon to my Senetor. I was frankly stunned and awed to the point of voting for him in the next election because I got back a letter than addressed what I had said, and outlined what he had done as a result, and what the results of his actions were.
It wasn't a lot, just one page and not a lot of action as a result, but the fact that this Senetor cared about the concerns of a constituent got MY vote! I urge you to discuss the things that matter to you with your representitive government, and when they work on your behalf (not just send you a form "Yes, this is a pressing issue which all Americans should vote for me over") you should reward them by voting for them.
Elected officials reading e-mail - joke punchline (Score:4, Interesting)
I would suspect that current pols don't give a $*()@*#)( about their e-mail or messages anyway. Local officials are too powerless for most people to communicate with. State and National pols are too busy talking to lobbyists and paying attention to the polls and statistics to worry about what Joe Schmoe is ranting about today.
Clinton, at least, actually DID read my email! (Score:2, Interesting)
When my Dad graduated Law School, my mom suggested I e-mail Pres. Clinton and explain how he was a big inspiration to my dad etc etc and ask if he would write my dad a congratulatory letter. (My family must be the last Liberals left in the mid-west...) Apparently my mom had heard of this being done for friends of hers. Well, I didn't think so much of the idea, but I fired off the e-mail to president@whitehouse.gov, and forgot about it. Like 2 months later, my dad got a letter from Clinton that actually mentioned specifics (the name of his school and home town, stuff like that) from the e-mail I sent. He's got it framed in his office to the annoyance of his more conservitive partners.
OK, so cynics can tear this appart (it was "good news", probably a easily changed form letter, machine made sig that Clinton never touched, etc) but SOMEONE read the e-mail, and responded. This new system is just a way to make it harder for people to express their opinions to the pres. Interesting that they implemented this at a time when more and more people have something negitive to say...
BoB
Re:We've come a long way baby (Score:5, Interesting)
I think Eisenhower directed the near gutting and restoration of the building, installing bullet-proof glass and other modern security features. Before WW I/II, the US was a fairly isolated country with a small federal government. If you had a gripe with the goverment, it was probably at the state level.
Re:I'd rather not have to deal with the DOJ... (Score:2, Interesting)
I sent a snail-mail letter to my congress-critter regarding malpractice reform (he just happens to head the committee) back in the winter (I differed with his opinion). A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter (personally addressed to me, not junkmail) from the congressman in an adjacent district (and the other party!). The content of the letter jibed with my letter, although he never referred to my letter. When I asked my wife if she had any thoughts on why he sent it, she offerred that he's running for senate this fall.
My point is, they definitely share info.
Send regular mail anyway... (Score:5, Interesting)
I have never had any luck with email complaints, and only marginal success with phone complaints.
Just last night in fact, I heard back from AT&T wireless because I sent the CEO a letter about how his company was attempting to defraud me on my bill. Fixed, no problem. And a free month to boot. I had previously called 5 times and had been told that is was "impossible" to fix.
So use email for normal communications, but when you need something done, write a letter and fork over 37 cents for a stamp. The results are well worth the cost. I imagine that a letter to the president has a much higher chance of actually being read by someone than an email does, especially now.
T
Re: we've come a long way baby (Score:5, Interesting)
The big problem is that the president currently declares when the war ended. Maybe we could have the excecution when the president leaves office, whether the war's ended yet or not. Keep the two term rule, of course.
I HATE web mail (Score:2, Interesting)
I once wrote to Joe Lieberman, my Senator, via e-mail. Now, while he did reply, eventually, as part of the reply I was told that in order to get better attention I should use the web form on his web site. When I tried that, the web site refused to accept my brower, IE only. I still get hot over that.
It seems to me that if you can now file your mortgage and other documents (see ESIGN [ftc.gov], First Online Refi [idg.net] and probably others) that the President's office should be able to accept comments, and letters via regular e-mail.
Why is regular (read "real") e-mail important? If I am fired up enough to write the President, it is likely that I'll want to include my congressman, senator or the OP-Ed of a newspaper, along with a copy back to myself. Not possible with this "tool." Beside's, websites are vulnerable to the Slashdot effect. E-mail may not be perfect, but I don't have to sit and wait for the compose window to render.
Technically, I'm not sure if PGP or GPG meet any necessary standards, and the technique is far too obscure to casual e-mail users. I submit that all e-mail software should be delivered with a signing tool. That should go for web-mail too. I do not know of any that are. (Check that, Mozilla does, although I cannot see how to use it, yet.) Maybe that would be a start in the right direction.