VOTE NO ON Bill 602P!!!!
Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent charge on every delivered E-mail.
The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government to quietly push through legislation that affects our use of the Internet.
Under proposed legislation, the US Postal Service will be attempting to
bill E-mail users out of “alternative postage fees”. Bill 602P will permit
the Fed Gov to charge a 5-cent surcharge on every E-Mail
delivered, by billing ISP’s at source. Washington DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law. The USPS is claiming lost revenue, due to E-mail,costing nearly $230,000,000
in revenue per year. Since the average person received about 10 pieces of E-mail per day in 1998, the cost of the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents a day, or over $180 per year. This would be money paid directly to the USPS for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and noninterference. You already pay an exorbitant price for snail mail. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from coast to coast. If the USPS is allowed to tinker with E-mail, it will mark the end ofthe “free” Internet in the US. Our congressional representative, Tony Schnell(R) has even suggested a “$20-$40 per month surcharge on all Internet service” beyond the governments proposed E-mail charges. Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story -the only exception being the Washingtonian -which called the idea of E-mail sucharge “a useful concept who’s time has come”(March 6th, 1999 Editorial).
Do not sit by and watch your freedom erode away! Send this to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends and relatives to write their congressional representative and say “NO” to Bill 602P.
