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[Fwd: PAYING FOR E-MAIL]




Subject: Charging us for e-mail - that's nuts


> Please pass this on to all you know:
> Since many of us use e-mail for business and to keep
> up with friends and family,I thought you'd like to
> knowthe following.
>
> Please jump on it right away and forward this to
> others.
>
> CNN has reported that within the next two weeks
> Congress is going to vote on allowing telephone
> companies to CHARGE A TOLL FEE for internet access.
>
> Translation:
> Every time we send long distance e-mail we will
> receive
> a long distance charge. This will get costly.
> Please visit the following web site and file a
> complaint. Complain to your Congressperson.We can't
> allow this to pass. The following address will allow
> you to send an e-mail on this subject DIRECTLY to your
> Congressperson.http://www.house.gov/writerep
> Pass this on to your friends. It is urgent!
> I hope all of you will pass this on to all your
> friends and family.
> We should ALL have an interest in this one.WAIT,
> THERE'S MORE. IN ADDITION,
> 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 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
> 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
> emailper day in 1998, the cost to the typical
> individual would be an additional50 cents per day,
> or over $180 dollars Per year,above and beyond there
> 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 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 ? 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 6, 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 killinga bill
> we don't want.
> PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO USES EMAIL
> REMEMBER THESE ARE TWO SEPARATE ISSUES THAT EFFECT
> ALL OF US ONLINE LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD NOW,NOT AFTER
>
> __________________________________________________