Working with the community

If the BMY had followed either of these policies we would have rooted out the elusive Dr Bird.However, they would not stop a more determined pseudonymist, such as Paul Blackman, writing from his own address.There are new challenges ahead.Although the journal now receives only a handful ofletters every week by electronic mail, we expect that most submissions will be sent this way within the next few years.Checking the authenticity of emailed letters can be difficult because they are not signed.Steve Kennedy of Demon Internet, one of Britain's Internet providers, says that standard electronic mail can be faked just as easily as letters and there is little that can be done about it.Nevertheless, software exists that allows messages to be encrypted, though these systems are not yet widely used.Until better safety mechanisms are in place, letters will remain vulnerable to fraud, and many such frauds may lie undetected.In future the BMJ will write to all authors of accepted letters to ask them to sign a conflict of interest statement and for an electronic copy of their letter.In the meantime, Dr Bird'