Dear List Readers,
While the forewarded post below seems alarming, it may be a hoax.
Nevertheless it has a good site address for writing your congressman/woman.
I went to the site address and sent my congressman a one liner indicating
my opposition to changes in the internet. It only took a few minutes and I
bookmarked the site. It could be useful, especially when it comes to saving
time with responses to such things as the USDA's proposed organic rules.
Enjoy.
Best,
Hugh Lovel
Subject: FW: Congress to allow email charges
>
> Subject: Congress to allow email charges.
>
>
>Please pass this on to all you know since many of us use e-mail for
business
>and to keep up with friends and family, I thought you'd like to know the
>following.
>Please jump on it right away and forward this to others.
>CNN has reported that 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 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. Complain to your Congressperson. We can't
>allow this to pass. The following address will allow
>you to send an e-mail on this subject DIRECTLY to your
>Congressperson.
>http://www.house.gov/writerep
>Pass this on to your friends. It is urgent! I hope all of you will pass
this
>on to all your friends and family. 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. Under
>proposed legislation the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bill
>email users out of alternate postage fees".
>Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt. 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 there 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 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 email; it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the
>United States. One congressman, Tony Schnell 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 6, 1999) Editorial.
>Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away! Send this e-mail to
>EVERYONE on your list, and tell all
>your friends and relatives to write to their
>congressman 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 don't want.
>PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE
>YOU KNOW WHO USES EMAIL
>REMEMBER THESE ARE TWO
>SEPARATE ISSUES THAT EFFECT
>ALL OF US ONLINE LET YOUR
>VOICE BE HEARD NOW,
>NOT AFTER
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