>From: "emailienated" -emailienated73@hootmail.com-
>To: emailienated@everywhere.com
>Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 10:33:11 CDT
>
>VOTE NO ON Bill 602P.
>
>Do not sit by and watch your freedom erode away! Send this to E-mail to
>EVERYONE on your list, and tell
>all your friends and relatives 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.
>
>To find out who your representatives are, check out:
>http://www.commoncause.org/congress/
>
>The warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P 5-cents per
>E-mail. The bill must establish whether it will be
>paid as sent on received. We knew this was coming.
>Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge
>a 5-cent charge on every delivered E-mail. Please read
>the following carefully if you intend to stay online,
>and continue using E-mail. 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 our use of the Internet.
>
>Under proposed legislation, the US Postal Service will
>be attempting to bill E-mail users "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 that, the proliferation of E-mail 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 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
>noninterference. 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 SchnellĄ has even suggested "$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).
>
>
>
>Please forward!
>