The UK's newly appointed e-Minister, Patricia Hewitt, wants to know she's got mail.
Speaking today at a Sun Microsystems conference, .Com Your Business, she urged listeners to email her at e.minister@dti.gov.uk.
She said: "I want to hear from you," adding "I want to invite you into a partnership with government."
John Gage, chief scientist, director of science office at Sun, picked up the message saying: "Send something to the minister. Most of us by temperament don't raise a placard and don't get involved in policy changes."
He said that when there is as much money at stake as that involved in ecommerce, "regulatory authorities and tax authorities become alert and frightened. The game is afoot. This is a period of time when the ground rules are being changed."
Hewitt admitted that the government needs "to get its own house in order" referring to pension, passport, access to benefits and drivers licences, but in a stark warning to companies, she said: "If you're not online, you're not in business," and lamented that "only one in five businesses have a plan for ecommerce."
She added: "There's too much complacency and inertia among those who are not here."
Gage in a separate presentation urged forward thinking businesses looking for innovative success to hire the "strangest looking kids" referring to mini geeks: "Catch them young and get them cheap," he said. "You will benefit from their energy and fervour."
He claimed that "major technical innovations are by students" and listed examples such as Linus Tovalds (Linux), Bill Joy (Internet protocol) and Marc Andreesen (Web browser).
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