Hello all!

I'm not sure if this is exactly the right place to ask about this or not but
I figured it wouldn't hurt. Does anyone know the reality behind the bottom
article. I have no idea if this is true or not but I think it would
undoubtedly cause a lot of people to become very unhappy across the world if
it is true. If anyone knows if this is happening please let me know. I am
curious about it.

Thanks in Advance,
Joe Keilholz
Web Developer
Pace Communications
(336) 383-5443

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We Knew this was coming!! Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt.
to charge a 5 cent charge on every delivered email.
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 your use of the
Internet. Under proposed legislation the US Postal Service will be
attempting to bill E-mail users out of "alternate postage fees."
Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt. 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 that lost revenue due to the proliferation
of e-mail is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year.
You may have seen their recent ad campaign "There is nothing
like a letter." Since the average 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 US Postal Service for a service they do not even 
provide.  The whole point of the Internet is democracy & non-interference.  
If the federal government is permitted to tamper with end.  You are already 
paying an exorbitant price for snail mail becauseof bureaucratic efficiency.

It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter  to be delivered from New York 
to Buffalo. If the US 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 e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your
friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 
602-P.
It will only take a few moments of your time, and could very well be 
instrumental in killing a bill we don't want.

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