Fwd: E-MAIL SURCHARGE

Tue Oct 18 21:07:08 UTC 2005

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blemtax2.htm

There has been variations on this hoax since 1999, at least.

Paul King

> 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
> 
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml
> 
> __________ NOD32 1.1260 (20051018) Information __________
> 
> This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> http://www.eset.com
> 
> 

--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml