I have heard from thousands of folks in East Tennessee about a couple of rumors that have been circulating on the Internet, and I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that these rumors are false.

The Postal Service is not proposing "alternate postage fees" for e-mail nor is there any bill "602P" before Congress. Furthermore, the FCC, back in1997, ruled that telephone companies may not charge Internet providers on a per minute basis, and Congress has no plans to change that policy. These rumors are completely false and are a reminder that although the Internet can be a very useful tool, some of the information found on the Internet is complete and total nonsense.

In order to filter through some of these rumors, you may want to take a look at the websites http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html, which is run by the Department of Energy and www.hoaxkill.com, run by a private software firm.

The Internet has been a useful tool to help educate people, and I support its use. We should leave it open to a free market economy, allowing all consumers to have access through a variety of providers.