[Fwd: ATM Postal service Billing Us for E-mail.]

[Jeremy Palmer <w6cwj@earthlink.net>]

let the government know what we think of their idea...

jerry 
 
>>Subject: Postal Service Billing Us for E-mail.
>>Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 07:39:18 -0400
>>
>>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 bill email  users with
>>"alternate postage fees". Bill 602P would permit the Federal Govt. to
>>charge a 5 cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing
Internet
>>Service Providers at the source.  The consumer would then be billed in

>>turn by the ISP. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard 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 them 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 (which they do not even provide), who knows where
it
>>will end?  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 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 (r) 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 e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends
>>and relatives  to write to their congressman 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 don't want.
>>