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You
may have heard about a bill under congressional review which contains a
“little known clause” to charge e-mail users 5 cents for every message
sent. In fact, you may have received an e-mail reading, in part:
“The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the government
attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use
of the Internet. Under proposed legislation, the USPS will be attempting
to bill e-mail users out of alternate 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.”
Pretty scary, huh?
Now, if this was a charge similar to that for a call from a public phone
booth, that makes sense (no pun intended). Someone has to pay for that
phone booth and the upkeep. So, if you were to send an e-mail from a
public PC, a 5 cent fee would be understandable. Someone has to pay for
the equipment and the maintenance.
But, to charge individuals who are sending e-mail from their homes and
employees who are sending e-mail from their place of business is
outrageous, right? They’ve already paid for the PC, the Internet
connection fee, the software, the phone line, the electricity, now 5 more
cents will be tacked on?
Who gets the money? What if the e-mail is sent over international borders?
What about exchange rates?
Well, you don’t have to know the answers to these questions because it
is just an “urban legend.”
The first clue was when the exact same e-mail was circulating around
Canada only the references to “U.S.” were replaced with “Canada.”
In a statement, the USPS said,
“A completely false rumor concerning the U.S. Postal Service is being
circulated on Internet e-mail. As a matter of fact, the Postal Service has
learned that a similar hoax occurred recently in Canada concerning Canada
Post.
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.
The U.S. Postal Service has no authority to surcharge e-mail messages sent
over the Internet, nor would it support such legislation.”
Nonetheless, newspapers and news agencies alike have fallen for, and
reported, the hoax.
But, it’s easy to see how these rumors get started. Think about it. You
call your ISP, for free. Your ISP receives the call, for free. So,
consumers start thinking, “Hey, this is America. Why isn’t someone
making a profit in the equation? Someone must be making a profit.” So,
we concoct ideas that the phone companies or uncle Sam is going to dip in
and take some cash.
But, Bill Kennard, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission says
his organization is not about to start regulating the Internet. “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.
It’s not going to happen. 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.”
Actually the Internet issue the FCC has been involved in has to do with
how phone companies reimburse one another for calls to ISPs, called
Reciprocal Compensation. In short, here’s how it works: Let’s say you
use phone company XZ&Z and you place a local call to your friend who
uses phone company Sprunt. XZ&Z has to pay Sprunt a fee (previously
negotiated between the phone companies) for completing the call. Makes
sense.
With the advent of small, local phone companies, the larger phone
companies felt they would be making some good profits, since the smaller
organizations would be relying on the big guys to complete their out of
area calls. But, the small companies started offering their services to
ISPs, and as we know, ISPs receive thousands
of calls each day, but initiate very few. Therefore, the smaller
organizations were to collect substantial fees.
That’s when the large organizations balked and said that ISP calls
should be considered long distance and they should be getting paid for
originating the calls, rather than paying the small phone companies for
completing the calls.
Then, and only then, did the FCC get involved. Last February they ruled
that the reciprocal agreements previously negotiated between companies are
valid and the large phone companies needed to pay up.
That was it—the entire FCC/ISP issue—it just got blown completely out of proportion!
If you don’t believe us, check it out for yourself at http://www.usps.
gov/news/press/99/99045new.htm. © Copyright
1995-2000 |
