Portal offers feds free Web access

An Internet portal designed for federal workers has joined a growing number

of organizations offering free Internet access and e-mail accounts to its

users.

Fedworkplace.com offers news, information and links to Internet sites

of interest to federal workers, such as the federal government's 2000 salary

table, federal job announcements and government employee benefits information.

Now the site is adding free Internet and e-mail services in hopes of

attracting federal workers. The services are being provided by MillionEyes.com,

an Internet service provider that uses advertising income rather than subscriber

fees to cover its service costs.

MillionEyes tracks the sites its Internet users frequent and targets

advertising related to the subjects in which they appear to be most interested.

For Fedworkplace users, some advertisements would be related to government

employment, said Scott Warner, a spokesman for MillionEyes.

A growing number of companies, associations and organizations have begun

offering free Internet service supported by advertising as a way to attract

Internet users to their Web sites.

In June, for example, the Democratic Party began offering free Internet

service through MillionEyes.

"The Internet should be free, just like TV and radio," Warner said.

Although the Internet service for Fedworkplace is geared toward federal

workers, it too is available to all, Warner said.

In another Internet freebie, the "political action site," Grassroots.com,

announced Monday that the Web sites of the Republican National Committee

and the Democratic National Committee would add direct links to Grassroots'

online voter guide. The guide provides information on thousands of local,

statewide and national elections.