e-mail address

A character string that identifies, on a network, the point of presence of a user or account, and includes all information needed to direct a communication. An Internet e-mail address includes: (a) a user name that identifies a network account; (b) the channel operator @ (pronounced “at”); and (c) a domain name indicating the server computer. An e-mail address outside the United States also contains a two-letter suffix that identifies the country in which the server is located (e.g., .jp = Japan, .de = Germany, .uk = United Kingdom). An example of the Internet e-mail address format is john.doe@usagency.gov. In this example, the addressee is John Doe at some federal agency, which is a government entity.