Re: is this fake or what?

[Angela Gunn <agunn@dorsai.org>]

[: hacktivism :]

Oh, let's see -- does "602P" ***look*** like House or Senate nomenclature?
(No.) Is there a Congressman named Tony Schnell? (Nope.) A law firm listed
in Vienna, VA by the name of Berger, Stepp and Gorman? (Uh-uh.) And if the
USPS has to fight for years at a time to get a one-cent increase on stamps,
an area in which they are already set up to handle the revenue, how on
earth do you suppose they're going to get a five-cent surcharge on
something that no one is yet set up to say has been delivered to its
intended recipient? (Oh, gee, I guess that's true too...)
  

The sky really is falling, but this is not an example thereof. Now, could
you do those of us who have seen this *($*(! spam dozens of times a BIG
FAVOR and pass this note along to whoever sent the original to you?
  

Tsk --
AG.
  

At 01:55 PM 11/1/99 -0800, you wrote:
>[: hacktivism :]
>
>sorry if i sound lame, but is this for real??
>
>i almost dont believe it...
>
>>US stamps for e-mails... Please read the following carefully if you
>>intend to stay on-line and continue using email:
>>
>>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 email 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 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
>>noninterference.
>>
>>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 freedom erode away! Send this email to all
>>Americans on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to
>>their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
>>
>>Kate Turner - Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
>>Attorneys at Law, 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, VA
>
>
>
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