The company has obviously got to be reasonably evil, spending lots of money lobbying for advantage against newspapers, publishers, Ma Bell etc. (I imagine that in the world of the novel, Ma Bell remains intact and provides the only 'mobile phones' 'Reach Out And Touch Someone, Even On The Go!').
(Question, what is the earliest use of the term e-mail? The online eymology dictionary amusingly has
atype of pottery design pattern, c.1877, from Fr., lit. "enamel" (see enamel).")