Hi Gang, In response to the forwarded posting in re: poatal tax on e-mail. this is a version of an older hoax which has been around for a few weeks. I immediately checked the updated archive of such hoaxes and found the following, so don't get too excited over it. Doyle *************** archive of legends & netlore: U.S. Postal Tax on Email? Posted: 05/22/99 Here's an item straight out of the Hoax Recycling Bin. A "new" email forward claims that the U.S. Postal Service is attempting to levy a 5-cent surcharge on every email delivered within the United States. Funny thing is, a virtually identical message circulating one month ago claimed that the same thing was about to happen in Canada. False, in both cases (see comments below). Subject: E-MAIL SURCHARGE Dear Internet Subscriber: 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 bureacratic 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 email to all Americans on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P. Kate Turner Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va. Guide's note: Compare the above to the Canadian version of one month ago. Someone has simply taken that text and "localized" it by replacing Canadian references with U.S. equivalents. No points for cleverness or originality on this one. Here's an excerpt from the U.S. Postal Service's reaction to the rumor: A completely false rumor concerning the U.S. Postal Service is being circulated over the Internet via e-mail. The e-mail message claims that a "Congressman Schnell" has introduced "Bill 602P" to allow the federal government to impose a 5-cent surcharge on each e-mail message delivered over the Internet. The money would be collected by Internet Service Providers and then turned over to the Postal Service. No such proposed legislation exists. In fact, no "Congressman Schnell" exists. Media Sightings CBS MarketWatch: 'Email rumor is shot down' Newsbytes: 'Don't Go Postal Over Email Tax Hoax' Roy Betts, manager of media relations for the Postal Service, told reporters: "It's obviously a hoax." Er... evidently not so obvious to everyone forwarding the email alert. Rumors of rate hikes or surcharges for Internet access, no matter how false, never fail to cause hysteria among rank and file users. Witness the similar Modem Tax legend of a decade ago, or the more recent long distance access charge rumors that have swamped the FCC's offices with protests over the past couple of years. Family site: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/7886 Gendex site: http://www.my-ged.com/sterkkn