It was only a matter of time.

   / It was only a matter of time. #1  

Hillbilly

Platinum Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2000
Messages
858
Guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P 5-cents per E-mail sent.



It figures! No more free E-mail! We knew this was coming!! Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent charge on every delivered E-mail.
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!
 
   / It was only a matter of time. #2  
It's a <font color=red>hoax.</font color=red> Visit this web site for an explanation of many 'urban legends'.

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   / It was only a matter of time. #4  
I have heard it's a myth also. I am, however, surprised that there isn't some type of tax on our isp bills like there is on the phone bills. I think that would be more likely that a per use charge. Too hard to track. I recently took advantage of the online bill pay that my bank offers to hopefully take even more money away from the Postal service. This is a big step for someone who, until only a year ago, refused to use a credit card online./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Jeff

Of course, if it was true....wouldn't promoting the rumor that it is an urban myth be the best cover????
 
   / It was only a matter of time. #5  
I thought that the "moritorium" on no Internet taxation is to expire this year.

If that is the case, you can expect some kind of legislation to appear.

Watch our friends in Congress, you know how they like to slip things in as amendments.

Terry
 
   / It was only a matter of time. #6  
<font color=blue>Of course, if it was true....wouldn't promoting the rumor that it is an urban myth be the best cover????</font color=blue>

Check the web site. They detail why it's not true.

Have to go now, the black helicopters are closing in. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

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   / It was only a matter of time. #7  
This is a rather old hoax, but received such wide spread circulation months ago that both houses of Congress even had explanations on their web sites (I think our Congressman were inundated with complaints)./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif The first obvious clue is the bill number "Federal Bill 602P"; how many remember the format for real bills in Congress?/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

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   / It was only a matter of time. #8  
H. R. for House.
S for Senate.

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   / It was only a matter of time. #9  
<font color=blue>...there isn't some type of tax on our isp bills like there is on the phone bills.</font color=blue>

Iowa charges sales tax on ISPs. A regional ISP (Lisco) just notified subscribers that they would be billed additional fees to cover back taxes for the last 3 years because Lisco had not been charging it. The State told Lisco in writing that no sales tax was required, but is now retracting that statement as an error.

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   / It was only a matter of time. #10  
I've heard talk of privitization of DNS. Being in IT, I sometimes have to deal with a user who is upset at me because he can't e-mail so-and-so or connect to his site. More often than not it's a DNS error. If browsing became more reliable as a result, I don't think it would be unreasonable to pay for it. Also, I think this is exactly the type of service the different international post offices should be offering as part of a plan to evolve with technology, rather than whine about what it's taking away from them.

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