From: Natasha Vita-More (natasha@natasha.cc)
Date: Sun Jul 08 2001 - 17:09:07 MDT
Does anyone know about this?
"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-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
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 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."
Thanks,
Natasha
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