Re: Hoax 602P (5 cent email)

[Guest guest]

Sheesh. From http://www.snopes2.com/business/taxes/602p.htm : "The whole thing is bunk. There is no Congressman named Tony Schnell; no Bill 602P (Congressional bill designations begin with either H.R. or S., depending upon whether they're House or Senate bills); no law firm of Berger, Stepp and Gorman; no such address as 216 Concorde Street in Vienna, Virginia; and no editorial in The Washingtonian."

I believe that there is a larger lesson that many participants in this board should take to heart, i.e. that it is easy to get people all riled up with adept selection and amplification of half-truths. As Mr. Twain said, "One gets such wholesale returns from such a trifling investment of fact." Jerrod Mason ============================================ Message: 5Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 09:27:32 EDTFrom: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSubject: Bill 602PFWD: has anyone confirmed this??Subject: Bill 602PGuess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P 5-cents per E-mail sent. Itfigures! No more free E-mail! We knew this was coming!! Bill 602P willpermit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent charge on every deliveredE-mail. Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online andcontinue using E-mail. The last few months have revealed an alarming trendin the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push throughlegislation that will affect our use of the Internet.Under proposed legislation, the US Postal Service will be attempting tobill E-mail users out of "alternative postage fees."

Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent surchargeon 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 thislegislation from becoming law. The US Postal Service is claiming lost revenue, due to the proliferation ofE-mail, is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You may havenoticed their recent ad campaign: "There is nothing like a letter."Since the average person received about 10 pieces of E-mail per day in1998, 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 aservice they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and noninterference. You arealready paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureaucraticinefficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be deliveredfrom coast to coast. If the US Postal Service is allowed to tinker withE-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 thegovernments proposed E-mail charges. Note that most of the majornewspapers have ignored the story the only exception being the Washingtonian whichcalled 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 erodeaway!Send this E-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends andrelatives to write their congressional representative and say "NO" to Bill602P.It will only take a few moments of your time and could very well beinstrumental in killing a bill we do not want.PLEASE FORWARD!Jerrod Masonmason@...Protech Environmental Services410 PlazaAnn Arbor, MI 48013734-761-3595