FW: Legislation to charge for email

[Hylton White <hjwhite1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI
In the last few months, the Government of the United States has been
attempting to 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 for "alternative postage fees".  Bill 602P
will permit the Federal Government to charge 5 cents for 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 the
proliferation of E-mail is costing them 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 person received about 10 pieces of E-mail per day in
1998, the cost of the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents a
day - or over $180 per year - above and beyond their regular Internet
costs.
The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non- interference.  We 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 coast to coast. 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.
One congressional representative, Tony Schnell (r) 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
whose 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 to write to
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.  Please forward!

______________________
Anne M. Ch'ien
Administrator, Graduate Program
Department of Anthropology
University of Chicago
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone (773) 702-8551
FAX    (773) 702-4503
E-mail:  am-chien@xxxxxxxxxxxx