[Elecraft] bill to charge for e-mail

[Wayne Rogers]

I just received the following from KN6ZB.  Thought it was significant
enough to forward to you.  Excuse me if you think it irrelevant.  Just
delete it.  73,  Bill, W0OWY
From: kn6zb@juno.com 
To:  bandb@extremezone.com
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 11:38 PM
Subject: Fw: bill to charge for e-mail
  Guess the warnings were true.  Federal Bill 602P 5-cents per E-mail
sent. It figures!  No more free E-mail!  We knew this was coming!!  Bill
602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent charge on
every delivered E-mail. 

  Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and
continue using E-mail.  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 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 Federal Government to charge a 5-cent
surcharge on every e-mail 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 US Postal Service is claiming lost revenue, due to the
proliferation of E-mail, 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 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 -- above and beyond their regular Internet
costs. 
  Note that this would be money paid directly to the US Postal Service
for a service they do not even provide. 
  The whole point of the Internet is democracy and noninterference. You
are already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of
bureaucratic inefficiency.  It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter
to be delivered from coast to coast.  If the US Postal Service is allowed
to tinker with E-mail, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the
United States. 
  Congressional representative, Tony Schnell (R) has even suggested a
"$20-$40 per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and 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 surcharge "a useful concept
who's time has come" (March 6th, 1999 Editorial).  Do not sit by and
watch your freedom erode away! 
  Send this E-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends
and relatives to write their congressional representative and say "NO" to
Bill 602P. 
  It will only take a few moments of your time and could very well be
instrumental in killing a bill we do not want. 
  
PLEASE FORWARD

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---