The House Committee on the Judiciary last week apologized to would-be government whistle-blowers for <A HREF="http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139282-pg,1/article.html">accidentally exposing their email addresses</A> to other individuals who, like them, had used a committee Web site to secretly submit tips about alleged abuses at the U.S. Department of Justice.

The snafu occurred when a clerical employee accidentally included the addresses of all the whistle-blowers in the "To" field of a message that was sent to inform them of changes in the panel's policy on who could access their information.

Many of the more than 150 email addresses in the distribution list included portions of the names of the whistle-blowers. Also on the list was the public email address of Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a statement released by the Judiciary Committee.