OK guys. I've heard of such a thing before, but have not heard how much of it is accurate. Anybody know more about this? Is it a bunch of smoke and mirrors?


__________________________

My Friends

Guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602 charges 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!

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 je do not want.

________________________________

Go buy your own damn worms!

You missed a turn. Go back two miles, turn left at the stoplight across from the gas station, and then turn left at the next street named Spam Street.

Spoiler!

p.s. Don't buy any gas at the station across from the stoplight. It's an Exxon ;-) :-).

Poof!

Someone really took the Bill Gates idea and ran with it didn't they?

Billy boy had proposed a small charge for each e-mail, in order to slow down the spam levels, figuring that the cost to the spammers would be restrictive.

I bet Microsoft would be more than willing to be the ones in control of such a program, no?

[Link: urbanlegends.com]

DO YOUR RESEARCH ! ! ! ! !

And yeah, ditto jmj52.

Somewhere I have a picture of Bart Simpson at a blackboard writing 100 times:
I will not ask stupid questions before I do a google search

So, the third response of a google search for "Bill 602P" turned up the following site. Its name might tell you that you don't really need to read it to get what is happening. I first read it over four years ago. I think this legend is almost twenty years old!

[Link: dir.yahoo.com]

You don't know me.

Boop de du be boo.

Boop de du be boo.

You don't know me?

Do your research first. Don't be afraid to speak.

Ignorant speech brings lessons learned faster that the truth alone.