Hi,
I received the same email and went to www.house.gov and www.senate.gov
and couldn't find any reference to it. Could be that I didn't have
enough information to do a proper search or it could just be a rumor.
Lots of rumors flying around during an election campaign.
Dan
> Bill Shirley wrote:
>
> I received this e-mail and want to know if anyone knows if this is
> true:
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Bill
>
> > This is not right, the Government wants to put a charge on email!
> >
> >>>>>>> We knew this was coming!!
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government charge a 5 cent
> > charge
> >>>>>>> on every delivered email. Please read the following carefully
> if
> > you
> >>>>>>> intend to stay online and continue using email:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the
> >> government
> >>>>>>> of the United States attempting to quietly push through
> > legislation
> >>>>>>> that will affect your use of the Internet. Under proposed
> >> legislation
> >>>>>>> the US Postal Service will be attempting to bill email users
> out
> >>>>>>> of "alternate postage fees."
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Bill 602P will permit the federal government to charge a 5
> cent
> >>>>>>> surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet
> Service
> >>>>>>> Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn
> by
> >> the
> >>>>>>> ISP.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Washington DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to
> > prevent
> >>>>>>> this legislation from becoming law.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The US Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the
>
> >>>>>>> proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in
> revenue
> > per
> >>>>>>> year. You may have seen their recent ad campaign "There is
> nothing
> >>>>>>> like a letter". Since the average internet user received about
> 10
> >>>>>>> pieces of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical
> > individual
> >>>>>>> would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 per
> year,
> >> above
> >>>>>>> and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would
> be
> >>>>>>> money paid directly to the US Postal Service for a service
> they do
> >>>>>>> not even provide.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The whole point of the Internet is democracy and
> non-interference.
> >> If
> >>>>>>> the federal government is permitted to tamper with it then
> that
> > will
> >>>>>>> all come to an end. You are already paying an exorbitant price
> for
> >>>>>>> snail mail because of bureaucratic inefficiency. It currently
> > takes
> >>>>>>> up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from New York to
> > Buffalo.
> >>>>>>> If the US Postal Service is allowed to tinker with email, it
> will
> >>>>>>> mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United States. One
> >>>>>>> Congressman, Tony Schnell, has even suggested a "twenty to
> forty
> >>>>>>> dollar per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and
> > beyond
> >>>>>>> the government's proposed email charges.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story,
> the
> >>>>>>> only exception being the Washingtonian which called the idea
> of
> >> email
> >>>>>>> surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th
> 1999
> >>>>>>> Editorial).
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away. Send this
> email
> > to
> >>>>>>> EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends and relatives
> to
> >>>>>>> write to their congressman and say "NO!" to Bill 602P. It will
>
> > only
> >>>>>>> take a few moments of your time, and could very well be
> > instrumental
> >>>>>>> in killing a bill we don't want!
