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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Fw: Congress to vote on allowing a toll charge for internet access]
> > 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 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 > 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 bilk 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 e-mail costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue > per year. (Oh, isn't that too bad?) 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 their 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 (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 > whose 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 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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