Fwd: In The Shadows e-mail fees

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/4/1999 9:13:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time, EkBc21 writes:

> The following was forwarded to me and I am sharing this with you in

> hopes you will all pass it on.

>

> Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online

> and continue 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 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 from 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 =AE

> 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 Assistant to Stepp, Berger,

> Stepp and Gorman Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna,

> Va.

>

>