Read this if you play by email

Alpha Kodiak · #1 August 15th, 2001, 01:56 AM

I believe this is a hoax, as I was unable to find any reference to Bill 602P or any reference to e-mail in regards to charging postage using the Bill Search on the U.S. Senate site. Variations on this hoax have been going around for a long time.

If anyone has any concrete information on this bill that I missed (a distinct possibility) please post it. Otherwise, it is safe to assume that this is one more rendition of an old hoax.

Atrocities · #2 August 15th, 2001, 02:00 AM

I also could not find anything, but still, its a clever hoax, and if we are not careful, this hoax, if indeed it is one, could become a reality right under our noses.

"Fear not the lie, but the lie that becomes truth." - Unkown.

[This message has been edited by Atrocities (edited 15 August 2001).]

Hotfoot · #3 August 15th, 2001, 02:28 AM

Two words: Cow Pies.

The government can't charge for emails, and if they even tried, I wish them good luck on trying to figure out just which packets are e-mail, which are instant Messages, which are GET and POST commands from webservers, which are message Boards, and which are multiplayer games. And what about lost packets? Would they tax those too? They take up bandwidth, but never reach their destination.

It might sound plausible to tax the internet like that, but unless the government COMPLETELY changes the way the net is structured and how it functions, it's not going to happen. And since the net is international, they would have to coerce EVERY major internet-using goverment into going along with these changes, or risk essentially creating an national intranet out of America's current internet.

The concern about keeping the net relatively free, however, is a legitimate one. We could go back to paying by how many hours or minutes we spend Online, or maybe even by how many packets are successfully transferred. And the net could become regulated by censor after censor. I don't know how many of you follow Everquest, but a while back there was a player who was Banned from the game for writing and posting fan-fiction that many people considered to be offensive (it involved slavery and torture). While we don't pay for play here like on Everquest, the nature of these forums could be made (and I'm not saying they will ever be) so that anyone posting such sick ideas as a genocidal war and glorifying it in fiction will be Banned, their Posts deleted, and their parents emailed on the subject.

Anyway, it's all a question of control or freedom. Freedom leads to chaos, control leads to stagnation. We have to decide upon a middle ground that works for everyone.

-Hotfoot
"Serious concepts, realized in fantasy."

Will · #4 August 15th, 2001, 02:30 AM

All taxing and appropriations bills (this would be one) must start in the House of Representatives, and the bill's name will take the form of HR#, with # being a number.

Also, the federal government has no authority to track, let alone charge, for e-mails sent. This is just another hoax to get a lot of people riled up for nothing.

There is an article floating around somewhere that details exactly how to determine if an alarming e-mail is a hoax, but a basic rundown: If it involves the government taxing you for using internet services, you or a charity recieving money for forwarding, or any incentive for forwarding, it's a hoax.

disabled · #5 August 15th, 2001, 03:02 AM

Chain letters... Bah!

The power to tax is the power to destroy!

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HADRIAN AVENTINE
pacea@solar-outpost.com
http://www.hyperionbase.com

LeTharg · #6 August 15th, 2001, 03:13 AM

Wow, use a little common sense before buying into these things. Or, at least check it out.

There are a number of sites that report on hoaxes like this. Here is one: http://urbanlegends.about.com/mbody.htm

And here is what they say about this one: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blemtax2.htm

tesco samoa · #7 August 15th, 2001, 05:08 PM

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