[COMP] [Fwd: Fwd: Fw: Postal rates]

I'm not sure if this is at all true, but it's enough to ruin *my*
night.  Has anyone heard anything confirming this?  



> >>  > There was a piece on 'World News Tonight' Monday
> >> mentioning
> >>  >  briefly this same subject....
> >>  >
> >>  >  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 US 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 DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working
> >> without pay to prevent
> >>  > this legislation from becoming law. The US 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 US 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 US
> >> 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 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.
> >>  >
> >>  >  Kate Turner,
> >>  >  Assistant to Richard Stepp,
> >>  >  Berger, Stepp and Gorman Attorneys at Law
> >>  >  216 Concorde Street, Vienna, VA
> >>  >
> >>  > URGENT!!!! Pass this along to all your email buddies
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  > ___________________________________________________
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  > --part1_76.1e5065e.25e8b38c_boundary--
> >> __________________________________________________
> >> Do You Yahoo!?
> >> Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
> >> http://im.yahoo.com
> >>
> >> ______________________________________________________
> >> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >

-- 
# John Madden  weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ICQ: 2EB9EA
# Sys-Admin / Webmaster, Avenir Web: http://avenir.dhs.org
# LANdb: Network Admin Database - http://avenir.dhs.org/landb/ 
# "A kernel compile a day keeps the blue screens away."

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