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No it was a hoax.
Robert
At 12:49 PM 6/23/1999 -0500, Bert Antonik wrote:
>> Government is trying to tax e-mail!
>>
>> ==========================
>>
>> If your local post office has a bulletin board you might want to
>copy and
>> post this to alert others. Please remove headers, etc. before posting
>at
>> your local post office.
>>
>> 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 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. 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
>(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 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 killing a bill we don't want.
>>
>> Kate Turner
>> Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
>> Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, VA
>
>
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