Posted by Bob G (155.13.48.8) on October 08, 1999 at 14:43:41:
I just received this from a person that I would consider is up to date on political issues and the latest in computer stuff. Has anyone else seen this and can you tell me if it is bull crap or not. If it's true then it could be the end of CH.com due to the expense.
Just a little information. " Theres nothing like a letter."
Within the next two weeks Congress is going to vote on allowing telephone companies to CHARGE A TOLL FEE for Internet access. Translation: Every time we send a long distance e-mail we will receive a long distance charge. This will get costly. Please visit the following Web site and file a complaint to your Congress. We can't allow this to pass! The following address will allow you to send an email on this subject. Directly to your Congressperson: http://www.house.gov/writerep Please pass this on to all your friends and family. It is urgent! We should ALL have an interest in this one. WAIT! THERE'S MORE. IN ADDITION, 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 in other ways. Under proposed legislation the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk e-mail users out of "alternate 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,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 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 citizen received about 10 pieces of e-mail per day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 per year, above and beyond their regular Internet costs. (Note: For most of US, the cost would
exceed 50 cents per day. 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 e-mail who knows where it will end. 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 New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to tinker with e-mail, 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 e-mail charges. Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored this story with the only exceptio n being the Washingtonian which called the idea of e-mail surcharge "a useful concept whose time has come." (March 6th1999 Editorial)
Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away! Send this e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all you friends and relatives to write to the congressman and say "NO!" to Bill 602P. It will take only a few moments of your time and could very well be instrumental in killing a bill we don't want or need.
TWO SEPARATE ISSUES THAT EFFECT ALL OF US ONLINE. LET YOUR VOICE BE
HEARD NOW, NOT AFTERWARDS!