If I remember correctly, these ideas were shot down a long time ago since
it was just not pratical.
I work for an ISP and can tell you that having a $.05 cent tax per email
would be impossible to enforce. Plus they cannot legally empose a
surcharge when they provide no part of the service (as far as I know). The
reason the post office can charge for stamps is to cover the costs of the
mail service. Since you already pay your ISP for these services, all the
government can do is impose a tax.
This tax would basically put make the ISP responsible for collecting and
tracking these. Not an easy task, especially when they would have to start
charging customers a few dollars more per month for the personnel to
handle this.
Besides, the only difference between our mail server at work and my
personal mail server at home is the number of users. If it did happen,
just think how many of us would have warrants out for our arrest, for the
crime of "running an illegal mail service". I can just see it now, Jim
Nessen on America's Most Wanted for running the saclug list server
without a license. :-)
Cheers,
Rick
-- =========================================================== Rick Johnson Voicemail: 530.325.5200 rick@pointman.org Fax: 530.325.5200 http://www.pointman.org AIM: rsjohn01 ===========================================================On Sat, 22 Jan 2000, Ralph Brown wrote:
> I know that this is not a political forum, but here is some > information i would like to pass on. These two issues deal with an > upcoming vote in congress about adding a Toll Charge on Internet > access, and a 5 cent surcharge on e-mail via the U.S. Postal > service. Both are cost issues that impact our wallets. Please take a > minute and voice your opinion using the links below. > > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > __ > / / (_)__ __ ____ __ > / /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / > /____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\ > Ralph Brown > ralph@policing.net > COL2.3, KDE1.1.2, SO5.1 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > CNN has reported that within the next two weeks Congress is going to > vote on allowing telephone companies to CHARGE A TOLL FEE for > Internet access.Translation: Every time we send a long distance > e-mail we will receive a long distance charge. This will get costly. > Please visit the following web site and file a complaint to your > Congressperson. We can't allow this to pass! The following address > will allow you to send an e-mail on this subject DIRECTLY to your > Congressperson. http://www.house.gov/writerep > http://www.house.gov/writerep I hope all of you will pass this on to > all your friends and family. We should ALL have an interest in this > matter. > > IN ADDITION, the last few months have revealed an alarming trend in > the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push through > legislation thatwill affect your use of theInternet. Under proposed > legislation theU.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bill email > users "alternatepostage 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 freedom 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 > bureaucratic inefficiency. 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, > 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 an 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 e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all > your friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say > "No!" toBill 602P. It will only take a few moments of your time, and > could very well be instrumental in killing a Bill that is totally > unneccessary and a violation f our liberties and freedom. What > services does the Governemnt provide for our use of the nternet that > would warrant this charge? NONE! KILL BILL 602P. PASS THIS ON TO > EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO USES EMAIL. REMEMBER, THESE ARE TWO SEPARATE > ISSUES THAT EFFECT ALL OF US ONLINE. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD. NOW,NOT > AFTER IT'S TOO LATE. > > > > > **************************************************************************** > * To UNSUBSCRIBE from the list, send a message with "unsubscribe lug-nuts" > * in the message body to majordomo@saclug.org. Please direct other > * questions, comments, or problems to lug-nuts-owner@saclug.org. >
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 25 2000 - 14:29:11 PST