Pay -As-You-Write-E-Mail?

[Max Sawicky]

For one thing, besides the unlikelihood of anyone
supporting such a tax, the bill number does not
conform to standard syntax.

A search on Thomas returns the message,
"620P is an invalid bill number."

http://thomas.loc.gov/

mbs

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
[mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Wojtek Sokolowski
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 3:03 PM
To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Subject: Pay -As-You-Write-E-Mail?

Does anyone know anything about it?

wojtek


>>
>>                       VOTE NO ON Bill 602P!!!!
>
>               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 that
>>             due to the proliferation of E-mail, it is losing
>               $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 to 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. 
>               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. Our congressional
>>             representative, Tony Schnell (R) N.J., 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 to E-mail to EVERYONE on your list,
>>             and tell all your friends and relatives 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.
>>
>