ALSO: What implications would this have for AIM???
Subject: New Bill
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 n 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-ail
per
day in 1998, the cost of the typical individual would be an
additional 50 cents 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
non-interference.
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 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.
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 E-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your
friends
&nbs! p; and relatives to 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. PLEASE FORWARD!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:02:28 EDT