It this true?

[Bob & Amber Roberts <mlaboure@flash.net>]

This was sent to me.  Does anyone know if this is true?  If so, it would
severely curtail my involvement with RideCamp.

Amber


>>Internet Legislation
>
>Please read the following carefully
if you intend to stay online >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 non-interference. 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 efficiency.
>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 who's time has come" (March 6th
>1999 Editorial. Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away!
>
>Send this e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your
>friends and relatives to write to their congressman 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 don't want.
>
>
>Kate Turner
>Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman
>Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, VA

Vicki Osendorf
St. Cloud Technical College
1540 Northway Drive
St. Cloud, MN  56303-1240
Voice:  (320) 654-5482
Fax:  (320) 654-5568
Phone:  (800) 222-1009, extension 5482
E-mail:  vao@cloud.tec.mn.us







=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=