Could Anthrax Scare Boost E-Mail Use?

All across America, anthrax-leery corporate mailrooms are taking extra care with envelopes and packages, prompting speculation on whether the Internet might see a corresponding rise in e-mail usage. However, even the biggest advocates of the electronic medium admit no empirical evidence exists to support that notion. A rise in corporate e-mail usage is "an interesting conjecture," said Jason Catlett, an expert on e-mail and president of Junkbusters.com, "though I'm not sure it would be supported by the figures. Historically, new media tend not to substitute for old media, they cross-fuel it. Fax machines didn't kill courier services. The paperless office never happened. Computers and e-mail just generated more paper. Spam hasn't caused a decline in junk physical mail, nor did telemarketing. They all keep on growing." E-mail marketer NetCreations is observing a bit of impact.E-mail messages globally already number in the billions every day; one study has predicted there will be 35 billion daily e-mails sent by the year 2005. In contrast, the U.S. Postal Service delivers approximately 208 billion pieces of mail per year. Clearly e-mail itself is a germ-free form of communication, although spores have been found on at least one computer keyboard in the Florida case. The current anthrax scare began Oct. 4 when it was confirmed that a Florida tabloid editor at American Media had contracted the inhaled form of the bacteria. He later died, the first such death in the United States since 1976.