RE: [expert] OT: $0.05 e-mail surcharge

[Jason Bachman]

Title:

It is totally false.  See http://www.usps.com/ for details.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Shirley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 11:55 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [expert] OT: $0.05 e-mail surcharge

I received this e-mail and want to know if anyone knows if this is true:

Thanks in advance,
Bill

> This is not right, the Government wants to put  a charge on email!
>
>>>>>>> We knew this was coming!!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government charge a 5 cent
> charge
>>>>>>> on every delivered email. 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 US Postal Service will be attempting to bill email users out
>>>>>>> of "alternate postage fees."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Bill 602P will permit the federal government 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 DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to
> prevent
>>>>>>> this legislation from becoming law.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The US 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 seen their recent ad campaign "There is nothing
>>>>>>> like a letter". Since the average internet user 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 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.
>> If
>>>>>>> the federal government is permitted to tamper with it then that
> will
>>>>>>> all come to an 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 US 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, 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
>>>>>>> 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!