>Subject: Not a Joke!
>>
>>
>>Subject: POST OFFICE WANTS TO CHARGE US 5 CENTS FOR EACH E-MAIL
>> > Looks like US Post Office isn't happy that we are not using snail mail
>> >and wants legislation passed charging us 5 cents each time we send an
>> >E-mail. Read on and have your objection heard loud and clear!!!!!!
>> >
>> > 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
>> >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 (ISP) 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 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. Even considerably more for some of us.
>> >
>> > 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 noninterference. 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 (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 email to all Americans on your list and tell your friends and
>> >relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
>> >
>> >- Berger, Stepp and Gorman
>> > Attorneys at Law
>> > 216 Concorde St., Vienna, VA.
>>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________
>Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com
>m
>
>
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