Re: is this fake or what?

["White Raven" <white_raven@kbdnet.net.au>]

[: hacktivism :]

There was a "proposal" in the UN recently about charging 1 cent on every 100
e-mails sent by anyone and sending the cash to third worls countries. In a
way, it isn't much for me to be taxed 1/100 of a cent to help some charity
thing for the starving and all, but this could open the gates for charge
rises (they always do). I remember the bridge toll in Sydney use to be 20
cents some 10 years ago, now it is rumoured to go over $2. If there is ANY
price/charge put on e-mails, they will rise and we will feel thier effects
(it will kill that bandwidth though :-))

Raven

----- Original Message -----
From: piLL <pill@atomic3d.com>
To: <hacktivism@tao.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, 2 November 1999 8:55
Subject: is this fake or what?


> [: 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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>


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