This is a venerable e-mail hoax.
Details can be found at:
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html#emailtax
Always check the hoax page before you clutter up the aether
with these kinds of messages.
"William H. Lawrence" wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> > READ THIS, IT IS NOT A JOKE
> > NO MORE FREE E-MAIL?
> >
> >
> > Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt. 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 your use
> > of the Internet.
> >
> > Under proposed legislation the US Postal Service will be attempting to
> > bilk E-mail users out of "alternate postage fees."
> >
> > Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt. 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 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 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 citizen
> > received about 10 pieces of e-mail 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 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 e-mail, 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
> > e-mail, 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 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). 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.
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Return-Path: <PBoyette1 at compuserve.com>
> >Received: from rly-xa02.mx.cs.com (rly-xa02.mail.cs.com [172.31.34.47]) by
> > air-xa01.mail.cs.com (vx) with ESMTP; Sat, 09 Oct 1999 17:33:44 -0400
> >Received: from spamgaae.compuserve.com (as-img-5.compuserve.com
> > [149.174.217.148]) by rly-xa02.mx.cs.com (v61.13) with ESMTP; Sat, 09
> > Oct 1999 17:33:40 -0400
> >Received: (from mailgate at localhost)
> > by spamgaae.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.7) id RAA00836
> > for Loulyons at cs.com; Sat, 9 Oct 1999 17:33:40 -0400 (EDT)
> >Date: Sat, 9 Oct 1999 17:33:15 -0400
> >From: Pat L Boyette <PBoyette1 at compuserve.com>
> >Subject: NO MORE FREE E-MAIL?
> >Sender: Pat L Boyette <PBoyette1 at compuserve.com>
> >To: lou <Loulyons at cs.com>
> >Message-ID: <199910091733_MC2-8868-4038 at compuserve.com>
> >MIME-Version: 1.0
>
> >Content-Type: text/plain;
> > charset=ISO-8859-1
> >Content-Disposition: inline
> >
> >
> >
> >-------------Forwarded Message-----------------
> >
> >From: "AFA in BWI", INTERNET:bwi87 at mail.com
> >To:
> >Date: 10/9/99 1:38 PM
> >
> >RE: NO MORE FREE E-MAIL?
> >
> >
> >=================================
> >READ THIS, IT IS NOT A JOKE
> >NO MORE FREE E-MAIL?
> >=================================
> >
> >
> >Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt. 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 your use
> >of the Internet.
> >
> >Under proposed legislation the US Postal Service will be attempting to
> >bilk E-mail users out of "alternate postage fees."
> >
> >Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt. 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 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 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 citizen
> >received about 10 pieces of e-mail 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 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 e-mail, 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
> >e-mail, 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 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). 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.
> >
> >Thank you.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >----------------------- Internet Header --------------------------------
> >Sender: bwi87 at mail.com
> >Received: from smtp7.atl.mindspring.net (smtp7.atl.mindspring.net
> [207.69.128.51])
> > by spdmgaad.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.7) with ESMTP id NAA28411;
> > Sat, 9 Oct 1999 13:38:32 -0400 (EDT)
> >Received: from oemcomputer (user-2iveo0e.dialup.mindspring.com [165.247.96.14])
> > by smtp7.atl.mindspring.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA02858;
> > Sat, 9 Oct 1999 13:37:43 -0400 (EDT)
> >Message-ID: <000201bf127c$f56a6ae0$0e60f7a5 at oemcomputer>
> >From: "AFA in BWI" <bwi87 at mail.com>
> >To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:; at mindspring.com;;>
> >Subject: NO MORE FREE E-MAIL?
> >Date: Sat, 9 Oct 1999 12:47:42 -0400
> >MIME-Version: 1.0
> >Content-Type: text/plain;
> > charset="iso-8859-1"
> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> >X-Priority: 3
> >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
> >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300
> >X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
> >
> >
> Bill whl at localaccess.com
--
Mike Patterson The common view of science is that it is a sort of machine
Astoria, OR for increasing the race's store of dependable facts.
mpatters at oregonvos.net It is that only in part; in even larger part
it is a machine for upsetting undependable facts.
----- H.L.Mencken
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html