-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39346,00.html
Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39346,00.html">
Hillary, Lazio Fall for Hoax</A>
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Hillary, Lazio Fall for Hoax
by Declan McCullagh
11:00 a.m. Oct. 9, 2000 PDT
Count the two major-party contenders for New York's Senate seat among the
thousands who have fallen for one of the Internet's oldest hoaxes.
That's right: Both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Rick Lazio are adamantly
opposed to bill 602P, a hair-raising proposal by scheming legislators hoping
to tax every piece of email sent or received.
Never mind that there is no bill 602P in Congress, and that the federal
government has previously condemned the alert as an unusually virulent urban
legend.
But neither Clinton nor Lazio knew that, and both angrily denounced 602P in
response to a question during a debate on Sunday.
Moderator Marcia Kramer of WCBS asked Clinton and Lazio about 602P toward the
end of the debate, which was broadcast live on CNN.
"I'd like to ask you how you stand on Federal Bill 602P," Kramer asked,
according to a transcript. "Under the bill that's now before Congress, the
U.S. Postal Service would be able to bill email users five cents for each
email they send, even though the post office provides no service. They want
this to help recoup losses of about $230 million a year because of the
proliferation of emails. But if you send just 10 emails a day, that would
cost consumers an extra $180 a year."
She asked both Clinton and Lazio "if you would vote for this bill."
The first lady was the first to respond, saying that she wanted technology to
be a "beacon" for New York state that would close the "digital divide."
"Based on your description, Marcia, I wouldn't vote for that bill," Clinton
said. "It sounds burdensome and not justifiable to me."
Lazio, who has been in the House of Representatives for eight years, was more
direct.
"I am absolutely opposed to this," Lazio said. "This is an example of the
government's greedy hand, in trying to take money from taxpayers that,
frankly, it has no right to. We need to keep the government's hands off the
Internet.
WCBS says the 602P question was one of many suggested by viewers via email.
"The debate's moderator, Marcia Kramer, was not aware that there is no such
bill," the station said in a statement.
While this is the most prominent appearance yet of 602P, the urban legend has
been around for years.
"The email message claims that a 'Congressman Schnell' has introduced 'Bill
602P' to allow the federal government to impose a 5-cent surcharge on each
email message delivered over the Internet," the Postal Service said in
statement last year. "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 House of Representatives has been so besieged by calls from concerned
constitutents that in May it took the unusual step of approving legislation
to reassure everyone that the feds had no such plans.
"I would note that many congressional offices have been bombarded with an
insidious email campaign over the past year denouncing the fictitious
legislation introduced by Mr. Schnell, who does not exist, which would
accomplish precisely the opposite result of the bill we consider today," Rep.
John Dingell (D-Michigan) said at the time.
"I only hope that the passage of H.R. 1291 will finally extinguish this
cybermyth for once and all," Dingell said.
But like all persistent myths, there's a tiny bit of truth underneath.
Telephone companies in 1997 unsuccessfully lobbied the FCC to levy
minute-by-minute access charges on ISPs, which would boost the cost of dialup
connections and email. Over 300,000 people emailed the FCC at the time to
complain.
And a United Nations group last year proposed a tax of one U.S. cent on every
100 email messages.
The original version of the 602P myth seems to have originated in Canada,
prompting Canada Post to release a statement last year refuting the rumor.
Copyright © 2000 Wired Digital Inc., a Lycos Network site. All rights
reserved.
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