WEB WATCH

If you're an elected county official, beware of how you use e-mail. Its use could be a violation of open-meeting laws. In SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. for example, a majority of the commissioners agreed, by e-mail, to sell a proposed library site to a developer and withhold a public vote until an election last September. A lawsuit turned up the e-mail of the secret arrangement, but the suit was dropped when the newly elected commissioners made the same decision as the old ones.

A lawyer who filed a subpoena in VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. Superior Court wants to see the e-mail a local newspaper received from its readers. The request was filed by a lawyer defending a man whose wife was murdered. The newspaper asked, on its Web site, whether they thought the man's girlfriend was innocent or guilty in the murder (she was convicted). The lawyer wants access to all of the e-mail the newspaper received, to see whether anyone in the jury pool is "tainted." The newspaper says it won't turn over any letters that were not published or posted on its Web site.

Certain cable systems <http://www.pathfinder.com/@@f9qGLAYAmi@gNtGK/rdrun/> <http://www.tci.net/> in some counties are making the Internet available through "cable modems." The cable modems are 50 to 100 times faster than standard telephone modems that send and receive information over regular phone lines. It's also faster than the telephone company's high-speed data lines that use ISDN technology.

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md., ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Maine, and ALBANY COUNTY, N.Y. are just a few of the counties taking advantage of the super modems.

Do you find yourself on a constant hunt for ZIP codes? Look no further than <http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/>. It'll even give you the handy four-digit addendum that gets your mail where its going faster.

A well-designed, easy-to-navigate site, unlike its unpopular image? The Internal Revenue Service. There's lots of useful information, including tax forms. It even has a sense of humor - a countdown to April 15. Go to <http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/>.

(Web Watch is compiled by Mary Ann Barton, senior staff writer.)