Email Tax Hoax Since 1999
Further Adventures of 'Bill 602P'
Posted: 10/10/00
by David Emery
A well-traveled Internet hoax claiming that a bill introduced in the U.S. Congress would impose a 5-cent postal tax on every email found its way into a televised debate October 8th between New York Senatorial candidates Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio. Moderator Marcia Kramer of WCBS-TV introduced the topic by saying, "I’d like to ask you how you stand on federal bill 602P," then launched into a description of the nonexistent legislation drawn from the text of the now infamous email hoax.
Both candidates, completely unaware they were discussing a fictional proposal, heartily condemned it.
In a subsequent explanation, WCBS said that Kramer took some of her questions from messages submitted by viewers and had no idea she'd been slipped a hoax.
The email in question, authored in April 1999 by an unknown Canadian prankster and anonymously retooled weeks later for a U.S. audience, has enjoyed an enormous circulation and provoked a steady stream of protests to Congressional offices since its inception. So clamorous has been the outcry against it, in fact, that last March Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan introduced legislation specifically to block any proposal resembling "Bill 602P" from ever becoming law.
Congressman Lazio, who evinced complete ignorance of the hoax during the debate, was a co-sponsor of that legislation.
Background:
Bill 602P Hoax (Canadian Version)
April 1999 sighting
Bill 602P Hoax (U.S. Version)
May 1999 sighting
News coverage:
Email Hoax Clutters Lawmakers' Inboxes
CNET: June 15, 1999
Congress to Block Imaginary Tax Bill
Washington Post: May 10, 2000
No, Newbies, There's No Email Tax
Wired News: August 25, 2000
Email Hoax an Issue in N.Y. Senate Debate
Washington Post: October 8, 2000
Email Hoax Dupes N.Y. Debaters
ABC News: October 9, 2000
Subject: E-MAIL SURCHARGE
Dear Internet Subscriber:
Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online and continue using email: The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use of the Internet. Under proposed legislation the U.S. Postal Service will be attempting to bilk 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. Washington D.C. lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law.
The U.S. Postal Service is claiming that lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You may have noticed their 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 the U.S. Postal Service for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the federal 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 bureacratic efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United States. One congressman, Tony Schnell (r) 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 Washingtonian which 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 Americans on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to their congressman and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
Kate Turner Assistant to Richard Stepp, Berger, Stepp and Gorman Attorneys at Law 216 Concorde Street, Vienna, Va.
Comments: This creative writing exercise, not a word of which is true, first appeared in April 1999. The original text was targeted at Canadians. The "Bill 602P" variant above, with every north-of-the-border reference replaced by U.S. equivalents, was first sighted in May of the same year.
The U.S. Postal Service has denounced the rumor as "completely false." Here's an excerpt from its published response:
A completely false rumor concerning the U.S. Postal Service is being circulated over the Internet via e-mail.
The e-mail message claims that a "Congressman Schnell" has introduced "Bill 602P" to allow the federal government to impose a 5-cent surcharge on each e-mail message delivered over the Internet. 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.
Roy Betts, manager of media relations for the Postal Service, stated it even more bluntly for reporters: "It's obviously a hoax."
Sad to say, it's apparently not so obvious to the thousands who have kept the hoax alive since 1999 by forwarding it hither and yon without checking the facts. It's not as if the research is difficult to do.
Visit the Library of Congress Website and search House & Senate bills for a "Bill 602P." You won't find one. In fact, you won't find any bills at all beginning with a numeral or ending in the letter "P." Real Congressional bill numbers always begin with an "H" (for House) or an "S" (for Senate) and end in numerals.
Browse the List of House Members for a Congressman by the name of "Tony Schnell." You won't find it, because the man doesn't exist. Search some more and you'll find that several bonafide members of Congress have issued statements labeling Bill 602P a hoax.
Also, The Washingtonian, accused in the email of publishing an editorial in support of Bill 602P, has posted a disavowal on its Website for all to see.
Rumors of government taxes or surcharges on Internet access never fail to generate hysteria among rank and file users. Witness the furor over the similar modem tax legend of a decade ago and the more recent per-minute access charge rumors that resulted in the FCC's offices being swamped with misguided letters of protest in recent years.
Whatever its truth value, folklore always tends to express people's real fears and concerns. The threat of federal taxation of the Internet and the effect it would have on affordable access are valid worries. It's essential to remain vigilant, yes; but that must include making the effort to distinguish real threats from the bogus ones, so our efforts don't go to waste.