The below message was sent to me and I felt it was important enough to send
to the MV list. Although it has not MV content, it is important to all of us
who use and enjoy this list. It may even effect the e-mail we send to our
friends around the world. It makes as much sense as arguing over why Brian
sent all those automatic messages or some other needless threads I've seen
on here.
Thanks for your attention!
Keith Byrd
Parsons, TN., USA
MORE INFO ON FEDERAL BILL
602P
I guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P 5-cents per E-mail sent.
It figures! No more free E-mail! 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 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 noninterference. You are
already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureaucratic
efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days (if you are lucky!) 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 (for which we already pay!).
One 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 newspspers 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.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 07 2000 - 22:16:07 PDT