Hopefully everyone will pass this info along to their friends.

Subject: Federal Bill 602p

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 non-interference. 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 we do not want.