E-Mail Charges

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This is a hoax. For more information see
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/pending/email.htm

Funny fact: this hoax was brought up during the
New York Senatorial debates. The candidates and
the moderator didn't know it was a fake. See:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/library/blnydebate.htm
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Hello folks,

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
bureacratic 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 (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 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.

It's the action, not the fruit of the action that's
important. You have to do the right thing...You may
never know what results come from your action. But if
you do nothing, there will be no result. (Gandhi)