Gov to charge for e-mail

Can you imagine what would happen to this and other lists if this were to
pass? Just think of all those that send personal e-mail to a list by reply
instead of to the individual and tie up the 50 message limit. With over a
thousand on the list, it could get expensive and the list would go away.

Subject: Fw: Keep out USPS
Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 19:32:50 -0500

Federal charges for email:
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 Government 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 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 (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.

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