Fwd: E-MAIL SURCHARGE

[James McIntosh]

1) There is no such law firm (Berger, Stepp and Gorman Barristers at Law)
listed in the Toronto business section of Bell Canada.

2) There is no one with the last name of "Stepp" (Richard Stepp QC or any
other whatsoever) listed in the residential pages of Toronto.

3) A very similar e-mail has been circulating for many years, and is a hoax.

4) Any e-mail asking you to send it to everyone in your address book is
very likely to be a hoax.

5) I hope that you are a newcomer to Internet e-mail, because an
experienced person should not be so gullible, falling for archaic hoaxes.

6) I think that there is a Web site, "Snopes" something or other, that has
a collection of hoaxes. Have a look through it.


At 02:30 AM 2005/10/18 -0400, Stewart Sinclair <stewsinc-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>Does anyone know anything about this?
>
>Stew
>****
>
>Subject: E-MAIL SURCHARGE
>From: shanaz meghji <shanaz-meghji-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>
>Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:45:20 -0400 (EDT)
>To: Parin Visanji <pvisanji-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org>
>
>E-MAIL SURCHARGE
>
>  The last few months have revealed an  alarming trend in the
>Government of Canada attempting to quietly  push through legislation
>that will affect your use of the Internet.  Under proposed  legislation
>Canada Post 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.
>
>  Toronto lawyer Richard Stepp QC is working  to prevent this
>legislation from  becoming law.
>
>  The Canada Post Corporation is claiming  that lost revenue due to  the
>proliferation of email is costing  nearly $23,000,000 in revenue  per year.
>
>  You may have noticed Canada Post's 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 Canada Post for a
>service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is
>democracy and non-interference. If the  Canadian 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
>beaurocratic inefficiency. It currently  takes up to 6 days for a
>letter to be delivered from Mississauga to  Scarborough.
>
>  If Canada Post Corporation is allowed to  tinker with email, it will
>mark the end of the "free" Internet in  Canada. One back-bencher,
>Liberal  Tony Schnell (NB) 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 Toronto Star that  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 Canadians on your list and tell your  friends and
>relatives to  write to their MP and say "No!" to Bill  602P.
>
>Kate Turner Assistant to Richard Stepp QC
>Berger, Stepp and Gorman Barristers at Law
>216 Bay Street Toronto, ON MlL 3C6
>
>
>GULAM RAJANI
================================================


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