01-15-2004, 06:11 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Right Now
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Hoax Alert: Internet/email tax
Currently this version is circulating widely:
Quote:
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 US Postal Service
will be attempting to bill 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 DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay
to prevent this legislation from becoming law. The US
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 US 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 bureaucratic efficiency. It
currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered
from New York to Buffalo. If the US 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.
The Email Stamp Hoax
The email stamp version of this hoax borrows from the older tax hoaxes. This version of the email tax hoax reads as follows:
Subject: US stamps for e-mails
Please read the following carefully if you
intend to stay on-line 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 noninterference. 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 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
whose time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial)
Don't sit by and watch your freedom 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.
URGENT!!!! Pass this along to all your email buddies
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This is a hoax. There is no initiative to charge for internet as stated above. (There have been other initiatives to try to extract money from us but it helps to apply a little common sense; the type of charge proposed above would be totally absurd.)
There are a number of points I'd like to make regarding this hoax:
* Note the inconsistent use of upper and lower case. This by itself doesn't positively identify a hoax but this is a common sign of a hoax.
* Such bills before congress are public record. If something like there were underway you could easily confirm it for yourself.
* The hoax references an authority (in this case CNN) but does not provide a way for you to check out the legitimacy of the quote yourself. If this were legitimate, there should be a way to confirm this.
* Forwarding messages to our members in congress on a bogus issue such as this will do considerable harm when we try to respond to a legitimate concern.
* There's the "Pass This ON" which is typical of hoaxes.
source: Stiller |
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