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In this issue:
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- Federal Bill 602P, $.05 email tax, HOAX still floating around
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* The Bottom Line
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This is a hoax, plain and simple. It is designed to scare
folks into forwarding to everyone they know in order to overload
internet mail servers.
Do not forward it to everyone you know. Simply delete it.
***************************************************
* The Package...
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The email typically reads as follows:
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. THE FOLLOWING COULD BE HARMFUL IF WE ARE NOT VIGILANT.
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.
PLEASE FORWARD!
Best Regards,
Marc Deschenes, VACM Editor
The VACM Project at
Automated PC Solutions
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*** Be sure to check out the appendix at the end of this alert
******** APPENDIX - Handy How-To Tips ********** * How To Boot into Safe Mode Shut the computer down so that the power is off.
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