ACLU to House: Don’t Block Constituent E-mail (ACLU)

(Looks like we all missed this little gem here at DU. If nothing else, please kick)

ACLU to House: Don’t Block Constituent E-mail

(6/13/2006)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcacluorg

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today denounced a move by the House Chief Administrative Officer to use so-called "logic puzzles" to limit the ability of constituents to e-mail their Representatives. According to the Washington Post and Roll Call, the House Administration Committee found that on one day alone, of 8,262 visits to Web sites for citizens to contact members, only 1,568 messages were actually sent.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

"E-mail has become the preferred way to contact your representatives in today’s society. Postal mail takes too long and must be screened, and not everyone can make a personal visit or get through with a phone call. Now, some Representatives want to make even that form of communication more difficult. It’s ironic that in the year when ethics issues have plagued Congress because of relationships with high-paid lobbyists, instead of shutting down that gravy train, Members of Congress have decided to shut their constituents out.

"Congress long ago did away with the literacy test qualification to vote. Apparently, Members of Congress acknowledge you shouldn’t have to pass a test to vote for them, but they don’t want you to contact them without taking a quiz. We urge Congress to revisit this policy and take steps to ensure that all concerned citizens - regardless of ability to pass a ‘logic test’ - are able to be heard."

<http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/25859prs20060613.html>

Here's another story about this from RawStory: <http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/House_adds_mass_email_blocking_software_0612.html>

It sounds like these are essentially captchas, a harmless way to distinguish humans from bots. It's a good idea to employ one on something like an email form so that the recipient doesn't get swamped with automated mail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

Of course, in searching for one of these captchas, I only checked the sites of two reps...if anyone finds one in action, they should post it. Perhaps these are more complicated than simple "type this word in the box" captchas, but frankly, "logic puzzle" sounds a little overblown.

...the difference between a captchas and a "logic puzzle"???

No, they are not the same, here's another write up and a Demo site at the U.S. House of Representatives web site:

<http://blog.democracyinaction.org/comments.jsp?blog_entry_KEY=21169&t=>

Demo at link below:
<http://www.house.gov/writerep/lp_demo.shtml>

Now that it's clear that these are more than captchas (hell, the House site ITSELF refers to them as "logic puzzles"), I'm concerned.

To play devil's advocate...perhaps they're doing this because some captchas can be notoriously difficult to read?

...people who can't simple math, read and/or understand English and from people who couldn't possibly vote for them, because they don't have an address in their District.

So far, the only one I found using the system is "The Honorable Duncan Hunter." :puke:

I'll give you a head start by giving you the link to the USHOR website, but check out how long (and how much information you have to find and provide) before you can even write a message to "The Honorable Duncan Hunter."

<http://www.house.gov/writerep/lp_demo.shtml>

Ready....GO!

they send an email in Congress, they're less likely to bother. It's a small amount of time, but it has a very real effect on people's willingness to contact congressional members.

After you click on the e-mail link at his/her site, you have to fill in your Zip code and answer a small mathematical question, then, if you get those two things write, you have to give him you Name and address.

Then if you got all that right, and they are all within his/her district, then you are allowed to write your "public servant" a message.

I've only found "The Honorable Duncan Hunter" using the system, so far, but it's a major pain in the butt to use.

you have to as an example, pick the second word
from the top,if you choose the right word your mail goes through

And, of course, it was an auto-reply rhetorical non-answer. The people in Washington are just too busy for gutter trash constituants outside the beltway. There is money to be made, and palms to grease, backs and knees to slap, and rhetorical nothings to blare. Animosity is almost non-existant, and most of what we see, I beleive to be show for the cameras.

Got a response from Talent last week on an immigration email suggesting that we do enforcement at the workplace and heavily fine (and jail) the offending employers. His auto response was "yes, I agree we need greater border security" which oddly I don't recall mentioning. Hmmm......

He got in the Senate soon before I got out of Missouri. At least we had Mrs. Carnahan for a while.

:kick: