|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
can you tell us the source of this story or where and when it appeared ?
links ?
-----Original Message-----
From: Bert Antonik <mbcsne@xxxxxxx>
To: omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx <omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 12:57 PM
Subject: Is this for real?
:> 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
:
:
|