This message has been going around for a while and it is not true. This is almost as bad as the phony virus alerts that are constantly being posted. I wish everyone would do a little research on these things before passing them along. Please read the message below. Wes Parker KARLA KT SHAHAN wrote: > >>>> Subject: Charge for using Internet > >>>> Guess we realized the government would sooner or later find a way to > >>>> tax us for using the Internet. Congress will be voting in less than a > > >>>> week. In response to the urgent message below regarding Internet phone charges, please see the denial from the FCC: FCC chairman nixes rumor of Internet long-distance charges Government has no plans to regulate Internet March 11, 1999 Web posted at: 9:01 p.m. EST (0201 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, bombarded anew with e-mails from computer users fearing government regulation of the Internet, tried again Thursday to dispel the notion. "I want to say this as clearly as I can ... as long as I'm chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, this agency will not regulate the Internet," Bill Kennard said at a meeting of telecommunications and Internet analysts. Kennard was addressing rumors that have circulated on the Internet for a long time, as well as concerns by some consumer groups. The FCC last month concluded that a computer user's dial-up calls to the Internet are interstate communications subject to federal jurisdiction. Internet dial-ups have been treated as local calls. The FCC has said this decision merely resolves a dispute among phone companies over how to compensate each other for Internet connections and how to clarify the role of state and federal regulators. The agency said the decision will not affect how consumers tap into the Internet or how much they pay. But consumer groups and others believe the action inadvertently could lead to higher charges in the future for Internet access by computer users. "It's not going to happen," Kennard said. He repeated that the FCC has no intention of making computer users pay long-distance fees for dial-up access to the Internet, as people now pay when they make long-distance telephone calls. Still, "these rumors get on the Internet that the big bad FCC is going to impose all this regulation on the Internet," Kennard said. "Now I know this painfully, because every so often when one of these rumors flares up, I get, literally, about 600 e-mail messages a day by people who are telling me to keep my hands off the Internet," Kennard added. Separately, Kennard said the FCC is monitoring to ensure cable companies providing high-speed Internet services are not freezing out competitors or restricting consumers' options for Internet service. The FCC, in recent decisions, has declined to force cable companies to share their high-speed lines with competitors. But the FCC has said it would keep watch. Kennard said the FCC is organizing meetings with the various stakeholders in this debate "so that we can get a better handle on the problem and monitor the marketplace." Consumer groups, public interest advocates, America Online and others continue to press the FCC to require that cable companies give other companies access to those lines so they can offer competing services. The cable industry and AT&T, which just acquired cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., oppose the idea. Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.