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You will pay 5 cents per email

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by toottoot2

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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.

8 replies

by sheilau

You should doublecheck your information - this is definitely a hoax that has been around for quite some time. You can check thsi out by doing a search on urban legends and viewing any of the pages - one of my favorites is www.snopes.com.

by rzh_1999

Go here:
http://www.usps.gov/news/press/99/99045new.htm

OR read below:
WASHINGTON ? A completely false rumor concerning the U.S. Postal Service is being circulated on Internet e-mail. As a matter of fact, the Postal Service has learned that a similar hoax occurred recently in Canada concerning Canada Post.

The e-mail message claims that a "Congressman Schnell" has introduced "Bill 602P" to allow the federal government to impose a 5-cent surcharge on each e-mail message delivered over the Internet. The money would be collected by Internet Service Providers and then turned over to the Postal Service.

No such proposed legislation exists. In fact, no "Congressman Schnell" exists.

The U.S. Postal Service has no authority to surcharge e-mail messages sent over the Internet, nor would it support such legislation.

by just_nuts

Its a hoax. If you go to the U.S. Goverments Library of Congress you can see all bills, proposed or inacted.

by computer-man

Whoever heard of paying for e-mail. We always got it for free and we should still. I would tell the government to take their 5 cents for e-mail and shove it in their butts. The next thing you know we'll have to pay for downloads from the internet that are currently free. This is just another way for the government to take money from our pockets and shove it into their's.

by mtg289

Ok the govt and the post office want to get there hands in on the internet with the 5 cents an email. Why?? Don't they get enough from the people??? How many employees in a company send over 500 emails a day? How many people send 50 emails a dayto jobs by applying and sending a resume in? At five cents an email I would have one paycheck gone just looking for a job!! This is way too far. Enough is enough! Tell the govt and the post office no way! It's not like the post office does great service with the money they get now, My mail does not come till 5 oclock in the afternoon it's no wonder I use email for lots of communication! The post office has no business with the email system lets keep it that way! They did not invent the protocols that send the information thru the internet did they? NO!

by sheilau

This is still a hoax - no such bill, no such congressman exists. People apparently have far too much time on their hands and unfortunately, they have just enough creativity to get into trouble. It's amazing that these people can function on a daily basis

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