-Caveat Lector-

----- Original Message -----
From: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 1999 12:54 PM
Subject: FC: More on HOAX: US Postal Service seeking 5-cents email tax


*********

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
X-Web-site: http://www.nationalpost.com
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 15:46:10 -0400
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

At 3:25 PM -0400 on 5/21/99, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>This message being circulated among some conservative groups is a hoax.

Interestingly, a carbon copy of this hoax ran through the Canadian Internet
community last month. In our case, Canada Post Corp. was to impose postage
on e-mail.

Tony Schnell, in our version, was a  Canadian Member of Parliament and not
a congressman; the bill here was also 602P (our federal numbering system
looks like this Bill C-54; An act on ecommerce). Also, Richard Stepp was
the lawyer in question but he was based in Toronto as was his fictional law
firm Berger, Stepp, and Gorman.

In the Canadian e-mail version, Berger, Stepp and Gorman's address was on
Bay Street in Toronto (the Canadian equivalent of Wall Street in New York).

Unfortunately, there is a real lawyer named Berger on Bay Street in
Toronto. The office of Max Berger of Bay Street - as the receptionist
wearily noted when we called - was besieged with calls of support.

We and most other major Canadian news outlets reported on the hoax and
Canada Post even issued a press release about it:
http://www.canadapost.ca/CPC2/corpc/newsrel/rumour.html

Canada Post also claimed to have tracked down the origin of the message and
forced the author and his ISP to post apologies in the newsgroups where the
message first appeared.

David Akin / Technology Reporter
National Post / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
VOX: 416.383.2372 / FAX: 416.383.2443
300-1450 Don Mills Road
Don Mills / Ontario / CANADA / M3B 3R5

**********

>Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 12:43:14 -0700
>From: Lizard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: FC: HOAX: US Postal Service seeking 5-cents email tax
>X-Mailer: Mutt 0.93.2i
>
>About a month ago, this was the CANADIAN postal service.
>
>I wonder how hard it would be to start a chain letter convincing
>people they had to send me money, or they'd die?
>

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