If you’re like most of us, your e-mail box fills up daily with pure junk. I’m not just talking about spam, though that’s certainly a problem. I’m talking about chain letters, stupid jokes forwarded 384 times, news you don’t need, even wedding invitations.
Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff found a solution to his e-mail problem: He no longer uses it.
Chertoff says he was so deluged with e-mail after Hurricane Katrina that he found the only way to deal with the problem was to stop using e-mail altogether. “It is unhelpful to have 15 or 16 E-mails coming from all different directions being thrown at you,” he said.
“I don’t use E-mail,” he confides. “You just get deluged with a lot of garbage.” Chertoff describes his experience with electronic mail as “picking through genuine work E-mails and invitations to baby showers.” Worse: “People sometimes will think you’ve gotten something that you actually haven’t gotten.” — U.S. News and World Report
He said that when e-mail gets forwarded, it’s more difficult to verify. So he had to instruct his aides to verify information they received via e-mail. Good advice. I’ve lost count of how many e-mail messages I’ve replied to with a link to snopes.com.
Chertoff also cited security as a reason not to use e-mail. “When you write an e-mail, you have to be mindful of the fact that nothing ever disappears,” he said. “It can be deleted, but it is still in the system somewhere.” Whose system?
But he said he’s still well informed of what’s going on, because he maintains contact with his staffers who read e-mail for him. “I rely on people communicating with my staff,” he said. “At any moment, I can request an update, and I can always be reached.” Chertoff still uses the telephone.
Unfortunately, the rest of us don’t have an army of staffers to read through every e-mail and notify us only of the important stuff.
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license.
Video published by this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling+ license.
Bad Behavior has blocked 2582 access attempts in the last 7 days.
Facebook
Digg
del.icio.us
reddit.com
Newsvine
Q
Jun 15, 2006
what a wimp, he’s taking the easy way out, taking pathetic shortcuts like that must be part of the mission statement for DHS.
email is here to stay, if he can’t handle it tell him to get a job doing manual labor or at walmart i’m sure he looked at the application with the rest of them.
STEVE
Jan 19, 2007
DEAR SIRS, [ TOP URGENT ]
AS YOU KNOW JAN. 19 -07 ”HRANT DINK” THE EDITOR OF AGOS NEWSPRESS GOT KILLED IN ISTANBULL/TURKEY. AS A PERSON LIKE OTHER JOURNALISTS WHO STAND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND 1915 GENOCIDE .UNFORTUNATELY THERE WAS NO HELP FROM U.S.AND
NONFREEDOM PRESSURES ARE ADDING EVERYDAY TO THOSE COUNTERIES.
”RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL” UNSOLUTION RESOLVES.
TURKEY AS A COUNTERY OF MANY ”BOARD LANDS” AND MIDWAY TO
MANY COUNTERIES GOT MANY PROBLEMS ,AS RACISM AND RELIGIOUS.
THANKS FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.
S.K.
Marty Bleier
May 02, 2007
Standardizing driver licenses: according to Homeland security in March 2007 they gave us (the people of the United States) 60 (sixty) days to comment on this latest invasion of our privacy. The only problems — they didn’t notify anyone,didn’t give us an address to send our comments to AND they didn’t say when the clock started!
Now I find out that the head of homeland security doesn’t accept, or read emails AND guess WHAT DOESN’T GIVE ANY WAY TO SEND HIM OUR OBJECTIONS!
Homeland security is already ruining air travel with their ridiculous rules. Now they want to lump us all into one bucket. Don’t they know that each state is unique and so are the people living there? WHO is going to pay for all this? Have they designed and implemented the software programs to maintain all the data? Have they decided and paid for the implementation AND THE CONTINUING COSTS? I’ll bet the answer is no. PLEASE, PLEASE CAN’T WE get someone with a lick of sense to work for HOMELAND SECURITY?
Anonymous
Jul 01, 2007
IT IS THE DUTY OF ANY GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT THE CITIZENS OF THAT COUNTRY -MR. CHERNOFF -NOW DO WAHT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AFTER THE CARAMGE OF 9/11/ STOP WHINING AND BUILD THE FENCE-THE CONGRESS VOTED ONE BILLION DOLLARS FOR A 700 mile fence and only 11MILES HAVE BEEN FINISHED-PENALIZE THE EMPLOYERS OF THE ILLEGALS AND THEY WILL GO HOME. IF YOU CAN’TDO THE JOB —RESIGN
Jul 01, 2007
Bits of homeland stupidity - Homeland Stupidity
thomas j hogan
Aug 04, 2007
I would like to thank mikael checkoff for have forward thinking on the SSI enforcement for illegal immigrants. I am a US citizen I was born in Holyoke Ma in 1961.
I am very dyslexic ,I have never let that hold me Down I do not use this as a crouch. I went in to the food service wan I was 16, I am now 46 I have trained at the Beverly Hills Hotel, I have worked in california for 25yr. I have bean told to help illegal immigrants get false paper work It is not.
I just move to the California Desert Palm Desert for a sous job at Pacifica sea food restaurant 73505 El Paseo. i was lade off
that would be OK with me, But I was lade off as illegal Mexican work could keep there jobs. there are people working there that hove now relay paper would there are over 100 employees in season 75% are illegal we are told to torn are hear. I have had to turn US citizen away so we can hire illegals. I said not more I was lade off
what is up with that
so thank you I Hope this will stand
Thomas J Hogan
bob
Oct 07, 2007
TELL MR. CHERTOFF THAT IT IS ABOUT TIME HE DID SOMETHING ABOUIT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. I AM SICK OF THESE DO-NOTHING BUREAUCRATS. NO WONDER, THE PEOPLE TAKE THE LAW INTO THEIR OWN HANDS.
oneglobalmind
Dec 10, 2007
Over the last year I have seen the number of seemingly random emails escalate to email services that allow filtering. I believe that enemy forces use this to not be monitored as well as using publications as to not establish a pattern.
I would also like to “tip” homeland off to the involvement of using a program such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, or Speak text to avoid the detection by voice monitor services for CIA or other intel review. Believe parties are establishing alternate means of sending coded messages.
I believe there are some simple steps that could be established to better locate the seeming no pattern. Please let me know if my suggestions could be of any help I would submit them to a secure verified platform and seek nothing in return other then to be able to help.
Thank You,
FoxJet7