Helo every one, I recieved this message from a friend, and thought I would
pas it along. Some thing like this is obseen!
Pete
Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and continu
e
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 U.S. Postal Service will be
attempting to bilk email users out of "alternate postage fees". Bill 602P
will permit the Federal Govt 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 D.C. lawyer, Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this
legislation from
becoming law. The U.S. 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 noticed their recent ad campaign "There is nothing like a letter".
Since the average citizen 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 dollars per year, above
and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid
directly to the U.S. 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 our liberties by adding a
surcharge to email, who knows where it will end. You are already paying an
exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureacratic
efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered fro
m
New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. 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 (r) 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 all Americans on your list and tell your friends and
relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
Kate Turner Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va.
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