Gov charges for email?

[moopups]

Just got this in an email:
Guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P charges 5-cents per E-mail sent. It figures! No more free E-mail! We knew this was coming!!


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 lost revenue, due to the proliferation of E-mail, 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 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.

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. 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 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.

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 who's time has come" (March 6th, 1999 Editorial).

Do not sit by and watch your freedom erode away!

Send this E-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends and relatives to 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.

[Alice In TX/MO]

It's an email hoax.

Description: This email hoax warns of Federal Bill 602P which the author claims will impose a 5-cent email tax on every delivered email.

The Facts: There is no Federal Bill 602P nor is there a Congressional representative named Tony Schnell. Both the facts and the email are a fake. The email has been in circulation since at least 1999. Unlike most hoaxes, it is detailed and well-written, perhaps making it seem more believable and thus explaining its successful run as a hoax.

[mistletoad]

Another urban legend

http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/bill602p.asp

[Hoop]

This is entirely a hoax. But not completely without a thread....albeit a weak one.....linking it to an item in the news that does have some credibility.

Mr Bill Gates of Microsoft last week indicated that putting a surcharge (fee) on emails, could possibly be a solution to the proliferation of spam.
Gates didn't suggest a manner in which the charge could be collected, and suggested a minimal fee such as 1/10 of a penny per email.
Gates surmised that the tiny fee wouldn't really amount to much for normal users but the spammers would find it cost prohibitive.


What Gates says is true. A small fee applied to emails would indeed stop the spammers.
What Gates doesn't realize is that this years small fee would escalate to next years.....or the year after....postage stamp size fee.

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by Hoop

What Gates says is true. A small fee applied to emails would indeed stop the spammers.
What Gates doesn't realize is that this years small fee would escalate to next years.....or the year after....postage stamp size fee.

How come then the "small fee" the post office charges bulk mailers doesnt discourage them? They still send plenty of crap to my real life snailmail mailbox including stuff for my ex who hasnt lived here in over 10 years. Real hassle is much of this junk mail is that slick paper that leaves all the ash when you burn it. They should at least send paper that burns easily in woodstove.

As to small fees escalating, I agree 100%, they are just the seeds of evil and would grow heartily. I can filter my own email thankyou, dont have to have big brother do it for me.

[Hoop]

I stand corrected!!!! As HermitJohn has pointed out, fees haven't stopped junk mail via the postal service.

It will SLOW DOWN the spammers. I guess nothing can stop junk mail or junk email.

We're both in agreement that we don't need another fee in our lives