I received the following from a friend who has sent me
misinformation in the past. Maybe she's a bit gullible! Have
any of you MOLers heard about such a bill?
Subject: Fw: VOTE NO ON BILL 602P Date: Tue, 22
Aug 2000 16:12:09 -0700 (PDT)
VOTE NO ON BILL 602P
I guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill
602P 5-cents per email sent. It figures! No more free e-mail! We
knew this was coming. Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government
to charge 5-cent charge on every delivered e-mail. Please read the
following carefully if you intend to stay online, and continue using
email. The last few monthshave 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 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 workingwithout
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
noticedtheir recent ad campaign. " There is nothing likea
letter."
Since the average person received about 10 pieces
of e-mail per day in1998m the cost of the typical individual would be
an additional 50 cents per day - or over $180.00 a year - above and
beyond their regular Internet cost. 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.
Our congressional representative, Tony Shcnekll (R) has even suggested a
$20.00 - $40.00 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 email to EVERYONE on
you list, and tell all your friends 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.
