Fw: Fw: RE: E-mail charges

[Guest guest]

I wanted to send this out to all who had gotten my original mail. It

pays to check things out. I will keep the message she sent re this for

the future.

Alice Anne:

It's really easy to check on whether something is a hoax. In this case

I put " federal bill 602p " +hoax in Google and got 508 hits in 20

seconds. This IS a hoax. You can read more here:

http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoax5.asp?HName=FEDERAL+BILL+602P+H

OAX

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Subject: Fw: RE: E-mail charges

I get this so often it is difficult to know if it is true this time or

not but since it would affect/effect so many of us I thought I should

share it...

Aliceanne

Subject: Federal Bill 602p

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 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 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 noninterference.

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 ® 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 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.

PLEASE FORWARD!