----- Original Message -----
From: Gail Gilmore (EUS) <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>; <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 1999 7:32 AM
Subject: FW: Email Surcharge


>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: john fullerton [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 1999 10:43 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> > [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> > [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> > [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Email Surcharge
> >
> > Email Surcharge - Bill 602P - The Post Office's plan to charge us all
> > for e-mail
> >
> > 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 bill email users with
> > "alternate postage fees".
> >
> >  Bill 602P would permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent surcharge on
> > every email delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at the
> > 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 them
> > 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 (which they do not even provide), 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 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
> >
> > Please send this to every email user you are in touch with. A surcharge
> > such as this would effectively kill mailing lists and certainly limit
> > the free expression of  ideas to only those who could afford it. KILL
> > BILL 602P!!!!
>