Fw: Postal fees for e-mail

["Mike" <sohns@turbonet.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Cynthia L Armstrong <armstrcl@juno.com>
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GYoung4444@aol.com <GYoung4444@aol.com>
Date: Saturday, January 15, 2000 8:14 AM


>Subject: RED ALERT
>>>Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 09:44:13 -0500
>>>
>>>> Subject:  U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
>>>
>>>> Subject:  US stamps for  e-mails
>>>
>>>> Please  read the following carefully if you intend to stay on-line
>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 bill 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
>>>>  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  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 =AE 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 whose  time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial)  Don't sit
>by
>>and watch
>>>> your  freedom erode away!
>>>
>>>>Send this email to all Americans on your list and tell your friends
>and
>>relatives and
>>>>say "No!" to Bill  602P.
>>>