Note: forwarded message attached.
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Personal Address - Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
Note: forwarded message attached.
I guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P 5-cents per E-mail
Sent. It figures! No more free E-mail! We knew this was coming!!
Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent charge on
every delivered E-mail.
Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online,
and continue using E-mail. 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 our use of the Internet.
Under proposed legislation, the US Postal Service will be attempting to bill
E-mail users out of "alternative postage fees." Bill 602P will permit the
Federal Government to charge a 5-cent surcharge on every E-mail
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 lost
revenue, due to the proliferation of E-mail, is costing nearly $230,000,000
in revenue per year. You may have noticed their recent ad campaign: "There
is nothing like a letter." Since the average person received about 10
pieces of E-mail per day in 1998, the cost of the typical individual would
be an
additional 50cents a 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 noninterference. You are already paying an exorbitant
price for snail mail because of bureaucratic efficiency. It currently takes
up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from coast to coast.
If the US Postal Service is allowed to tinker with E-mail, it will mark the
end of the "free" Internet in the United States.
Our congressional representative, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a
"$20- $40 per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond
the governments proposed> E-mail charges Note that most of the major
newspapers have ignored the story -- the only exception being the
Washingtonian - which called the idea of E-mail surcharge "a useful concept
who's time has come" (March 6th, 1999 Editorial).
Do not sit by and watch your freedom erode away! Send this to E-mail to
EVERYONE on your list, and tell your friends and relatives write their
congressional representative 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 do not want.
Find out who your congressman is and send him an email or a letter letting him or her know how you feel now....don't wait till it's too late. Thank you.Please forward to everyone you have in your email address book
