Fw: PLEASE PARTICIPATE

[Pat Neely]

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Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 10:56 PM
Subject: PLEASE PARTICIPATE


> Subject:  POSTAGE 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 DC
> 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 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 efficiency.
>
> 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 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 to write to their congressman 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
>