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The E-mail Tax Hoax Meets The Candidates
senort01 writes: "Who couldn't find this humorous? 602P, (the post office will charge for e-mail being sent to make up for lost revenue), a classic Internet hoax, was asked about in the New York Senate debate. Needless to say, both parties aren't going to support it! Thank god!" And for those who prefer their news both more direct and more fun, ContinuousPark writes: "Declan McCullagh's Politechbot mailing list is reporting that the lame e-mail hoax made it into the Clinton-Lazio debate." the_quark helpfully points out not only the famous Bill 602P itself but the USPS's stock page denying its existence.
This CNN article doesn't give many details, but apparently the question was submitted online for the debate. Whoever was in charge of screening/selecting those questions is probably a little nervous about going to work tomorrow morning...
I'll vote for someone who knows ISA from PCI.
:)
And we all will end up in a country that eats mostly pizza and drinks only Mountain Dew
--
--
On scale from -14 to 56 this post is '-15, Nonexistent'
There is an interesting story in the moderation pool at Kuro5hin about this subject (it may not be in moderation pool later): http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2000/ 10/6/105910/251;tool=post&mode=moderate
Although risking a -1 redundant for this, here is the specific hoax page from CIAC
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
not to mention the so-called "y2k bug"
I don't see too many big problems with that =)
Maybe maybe not, but you have to admit, it's pretty damn funny :o)
...is that this hoax is believable. Precedants such as the Communications Decency Act and other obviously unconstitutional laws get passed, so why wouldn't this be proposed?
I mean, look at the congressional response to the OK City bombing. They passed "domestic terrorism legislation". Well Hello!!! The last time I checked, it was already illegal to set off a bomb and kill over 100 people. What do we need these laws for?
I swear, if by some quirk of fate I ever end up in congress, I will *never* vote for such a stupid, idiotic, redundant POS. If anybody asks me why, I'll just smile and say that there was heavy pressure from the pro domestic terrorism lobbying groups.
Ok... actually, now that I come to think of it... it was probably a rider on some other bill which was important. That's the cruddy thing about just about all bills. They are all like... Mozilla. Can't just have a browser bill, gotta attach an LDAP rider, a news clause, and some additional mail legislation.
So, I couldn't vote against the bill; but I'd make a scene on C-SPAN.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Who the HELL have I been paying my 5 cents to?!?!!
-------------
-------------
The truth is out th- oh, wait, here it is...
Shouldn't that be, "there's a kilosucker born every millesecond"? this is /. after all...
Free music from Jack Merlot.
And an old but, but a classic, RFC #748 which details several "new" Telnet options to facilitate random data/service losses.
I should probably point out that all of those were submitted on April 1st and are actual RFCs that are archived on the Internet Engineering Task Force's webpage. I've got a longer list, should anyone care, but I've got to pick and choose...
The only point to this is that some real RFC's turn out to be hoaxes, in a way! Hope people find those funny. If not, then you should try and implement TCP/IP as described in RFC #1217. Either that or try RFC #2549 - it was discovered that Linux could not implement it because penguins can't fly.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
they probably would, if there were such a thing as hell.
Well, something to think about the next time the subject of online voting comes up.
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
--
Every e-mail is taxed with 10 cents ($1 for messages > 50k), which the receiver can or cannot collect.
Now, if friends or business associates send me mail, I sure won't collect. But I sure as hell collect on every piece of fscking junk sent into my general direction.
Today it's essentially free (or very cheap) to send 3'000'000 of those Hot pr0n, just click here messages. Now if half the recepients collect 10 cents the spammer is suddenly out of $150'000, which hurts.
Also those marketing geniuses which figure that their 3 Meg PowerPoint presentation is of interest to half the company would certainly think twice before pestering us again.
Of course the micro payment infrastructure is not here yet, further refinements have to be applied, etc...
But thinking about it, it's not that bad an idea to finally get rid of SPAM.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
If someone started talking to me about IETF RCS1532, or PCS1532 I would assume they are not an expert and got the name wrong (possably including the numbers).
I don't see why congressmen think the public is any smarter. Especally when they keep passing laws the remove our need to think for ourselves.
I would be a paid subscriber if Taco and Hemos weren't such cunts
I'd like to ask you how you stand on federal bill 602P," moderator Marcia Kramer, a correspondent for WCBS-TV, told the two rivals.
I really can't blame the two senate candidates. Im sure not every politician in the US have memorized all pending Bill#s. This twit from "WC BS -TV" (emphasis mine) should be laughed right out of her job. Instead of hiring talking-head-bimbos and their Ken-Doll counterparts, why cant COMPETENT journalists be hired? Attractive isnt she? The sheeple respond well to pretty-journalists.
[ogg-caveman-speak] Pretty Pictures...good - Big Words and Serious talk...bad[/ogg-caveman-speak].
Im not saying you are incapable of intelligence if you are an attractive women, im saying that the likely hood (statistically) is less. Better odds that you are A) attractive or B) intelligent (same goes for men..*)I am beginning to think that the concept that 'all men are created equal' is going to be the downfall of the US. Fact is all men are NOT created equal. If decisions (at all levels) are going to continue to be made to play to the middle 60% of the population (sheeple) who arent capable of making minor decisions in their own lives were doomed. The sheeple continue to overwhelm the decisions made for the good of all (including themselves)... funny thing is most sheeple arent capable of understanding the argument let alone capable of rendering an informed, well-argued decision. I suggest the imposition of a test, like a drivers test, administered before any person is allowed to vote or participate in anything of consiquence be it nonprofit, governmental elections, town-council, BoyScout administration council - whatever.
*Spare me the accusations of sexism.
Well Lazio has got to be pretty dumb.
He has spent five years in congress yet doesn't recognise a non-existent congress man, even, more basic, Sentate bills are numbered S-nnnn, congress bills HR-nnnn. No piece of valid legislation would ever be numbered nnnn-SP.
Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.
The real point here is I could RESEARCH what the RFC's are and come up with an answer. The most disconcerting thing about this was that the moderator of the debate did not research this question at all!! Journalistic integrity is built on researching your topic.
/.'s occasional screw-ups with the facts sometimes, there's two things to remember.
This example just higlights how far good objective journalism in this country has fallen.
Before too many of you rant about
1) These guys aren't professional journalists running a senatorial debate.
and
2) They generally fess up to thier mistakes and apologize for them. This is also rarely seen in modern journalism.
I got hit by another Canadian email virus
The newfie virus
This virus works on the honour system. Please delete everything on your hard disk then forward this message to everyone on your mailing list.
After I deleted everthing on my hard disk I couldn't send out the required email
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I just want to ask all the people who think the politicians are stupid for not knowing that 602P is not a real bill to please inform me off the top of their heads what the titles of the following RFCs are: 1999, 2012, 3002, and 6521. If you can't tell what they are or even better can't figure out which ones are fake and which are real then what business do you have expecting politicians to know about all the bills being proposed to congress, especially since most bills are handled by specialized committees and rarely are heard by all of congress unless they have massive support.
Second Law of Blissful Ignorance
PT Barnum was an optimist.
The real enemy here is the "two-party system." First of all, in the US, political parties don't really even exist. Second, there are many, many more than merely two of them, and most are much friendlier to the interests of sanity than the Demoblicans and Republicrats. Stop buying into the idea that there are only two parties, or that party affiliation even matters. Bottom line: the two largest political parties are identical and have only one mission: to maintain and increase their own power. You can't count on either of their loyalty, either to your business or the interests of general justice and rationality. The instant some big special interest drops a million for some idiotic proposal, they'll both pull an about-face in the interests of money and power.
Value your freedom? Vote against the two major parties.
They have to choose which sucker to vote for!
jdb
bad programming on the part of the virus writer, thank god. if he was smart he would've set it up to tell you to send the message on to everyone on your mailing list, and THEN delete everything on your hard disk. oh well. ;)
eudas
Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he shall not be disappointed.
Hillary proved to be the smart one by her
response while Lazio choose to look like a
moron with his. Lazio automatically assumed that
this was a real bill in congress and started
bashing on the governement while Hilary was
puzzled by the bizarre bill that she'd never
heard of.
Don't worry, there are plenty of politicians
who are well aware of that phony bill, or at
least their secretaries are.
There was an article I read in the Grand Rapids
newspaper (Michigan) where they explained that
that phony bill got some phone lines jammed.
There were more angry calls about this bill
than people bitching at the President during
the hypocrite republican's vendetta against
the president for his blowjobs.
More can be had about this, and other urban legends/hoaxes/tall tales/whatever:
snopes.com
(one of my primary sources for dealing with hoaxes I encounter.)
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
If you check out WCBS' web article about the debate, you'll notice not a single reference to the 602P hoax. On their message boards, however, a couple of people are screaming for the head of the moderator, "Chief Investigative/Political Reporter for NEWS 2" Marcia Kramer.
My spider-sense tells me the Don Imus show (on sister station WFAN-AM) is going to have a field day tomorrow. I guess WCBS doesn't feel their own screwups are worth correcting.
Don't like either Lazio or Clinton? Then vote Ficus 2000.
I think they missed the boat when the telephone was invented. Or are they just taking cuts from the phone company that we don't know about? Eww.. even better, satellites with the pagers and cell phones. That's just my point of view, and probably the view of others so I had to get it off my chest.
...and the problem is...??
eudas
Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he shall not be disappointed.
Agreed... I've had that particular email sent to me by some bright friends who weren't so bright when it came to computers...
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Boy, wouldn't that be something
Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
I'm a NY resident and vehemently against Her Royal Highness for many reasons. I watched the debate this morning, though I admit I was half out of it due to being sick, and I remember her talking about the moritorium on internet taxation as part of her response to this question... To paraphrase, she said she wasn't in favor of taxation right now - she would like to continue the with moratorium so that access can be provided to as many people as possible and re-evaluate the situation later. Like I said, I'm admittedly biased against her, but to me, this smacks of "let it become really popular and then once most people depend on it, we can tax a broader base to generate money for new (bloated|wasteful) program X." It's not like the government doesn't already tax necessary utilities to generate revenue for certain programs.
Don't leave your mind so open that your brain falls out. Don't close it so much that you cut off the blood.
Sorry, this bill would be too ridiculous for any politician to promote. It wouldn't get a single vote. You could get some votes for a bill written by a large corporation who wanted five cents per email. But the post office?
(Reality reasserts itself sooner or later.)
I admit that the idea of e-mail tax is absurd, but there are some points that can result from e-mail tax policy, if it is possible and properly administered to everyone.
:)
I remember a branch of UN suggested e-mail tax for helping underdeveloped countries build their IT infrastructure. Collect tax from welthier countries, then invest it in poor countries. I don't remember the gross revenue for e-mail taxes, but surely the size amounts to a massive one. The point is that there exist steep technological and social chasm between welthy countries and poor ones, and the problem can be solved with a simple policy like e-mail tax, without laying too much burdens on taxpayers.
The overall cost is not so much as one might
expect: Simply put, the cost for building 1 km of paved road is many times higher than laying 1 km of fiber optic cable bunches. One cent per e-mail might be too much excessive for the task.
Another theoretical possibility of e-mail tax suggests is the prevention of spam mails. If we can adopt the policy that the tax price of sending e-mails goes up much higher than the number of e-mails, (1 cent for 1 mail, 100 cents for 10, 10000 cents for 100, for example) people will reconsider sending spam mails to tens of thousands of recipients. Or at least they will do it less frequently.
Thus e-mail tax can help poor countries build their IT infrastructures and prevent spammers from bombing your e-mail box with the spams.
But that's just an imagination and I don't think
it is possible to check the exact number of e-mail transactions techonologically.
Although the idea of e-mail tax itself is absurd, the effects e-mail tax might create is worth pondering on.
In my opinion, the reason why UN once suggested the e-mail tax policy is to emphasize the social barrier between welthier countries and poor ones, not to get the real tax revunue.
I'm a south korean. I am not a native speaker of english, so allow me some errors if any.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Which again shows us the importance of open source software...
Yes, 602P is a fake - but that doesn't stop our good samaritans on Capitol Hill from fighting against it just the same. Our stalwart guardians of justice, as reported in the Washington Post back in May, have introduced a bill to prohibit the FCC from even possibly imposing Internet access charges, even though the FCC has said repeatedly that would never happen in the first place. According to sponsor Fred Upton (R-MI), though, his bill, the Internet Access Charge Prohibition Act, "soothes the fears" of those thousands of people who have written him and other representatives because, frankly, they got bamboozled by the hoax. Upton's bill (HR1291) is still pending committee review before the House.
So don't be too hard on Clinton and Lazio - at least they only talked about the fake; others are actually wasting real legislative time on it. Sigh... and you wonder why it takes so long to get anything useful done on Capitol Hill.
I bet clinton would support it if it only applied to people earning over 50k or whatever.
There's a sucker born every minute. -- P.T. Barnum
Man, I hate this rumor. I interned for a Congressman this summer, we sent out probably 50-100 letters a week to people who were concerned about this bill. They've sent out over 9,000 letters over the past THREE years on bill 602P and Congressman Schnell.
Whoever started that rumor, has probably cost the taxpayers millions already. Unfortunately, congressmen (at least the good ones) are obligated to respond to all letters/e-mails received with valid snail mail addresses. They do not respond to simple e-mails, because there is no way of verifying actual constituency.
Re:Get a Life
Is one of the most intelligent things I have ever read on Slashdot.
The only thing I'd add to it is that I think the reason why we have so much freedom today is that greater technology automatically me greater ability for bloody-minded busybodies to interfere in the lives of complete strangers.
Unfortunately, without some new technology that actually enhances freedom (cheap, reliable spaceflight?) to counter our current control-every-aspect-of-an-individual's life technology, I don't think we can go back to the good old days...
I really prefer the Age of Reason myself, especially to the coming Age of Eternal Darkness... (brought to you by a partnership between Sony and the American Family Association, tm, all rights reserved.)
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
The Meaning of Life
great comedy company.
Here's the standard US Dept of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capacity (CIAC) website for tracking common Internet hoaxes.
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Most of the classics are in there, and they update this on a mostly useful schedule. I include this in the reply whenever one of my less-clued-in remote relatives asks "Is this legit?"
[
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Could not the US Postal Service, patent the idea of "Delivering Mail", in any form? Mmmm gives me an idea, i let you all know what it is when i 0wn j00z :)
This was an attempt to be funny, did it work?
How every version of MICROS~1 Windows(TM) comes to exist.
Do the following really mean anything? SCSA MCP CCSA CCNA
--I'm not actually after an answer!
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
Here is another anecdote about this amusing incident, found at MSNBC.
"I have not failed. I've simply found 10,000 ways that won't work." --Thomas Edison
Looks like they reorganized last week. The new, more memorable address:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
[
Don't you find it amazing that politicans can twist any little question into a big issue.
Its also a good indication of the little candidates know about technology when they can't even see that the "tax" would be in every way impossible to enforce...
I'm happy I don't live in New York with such ignorant people running for Senate. I'd like to see the gov't try to charge $.05 per message.
At least one (or both) of them didn't say they agreed with it.
No sig for you.
Nah, just start using web-based email from a .uk (or whatever) domain... I'd love to see the US gov't try to tax email that doesn't even go through US servers :)
However, no candidate for any position would ever support (openly) any sort of tax increase, unless it only affected the wealthy. They might very well support it after they're elected, but never while *trying* to get elected.
...should at least take up the issue of the $10,000 cookie recipe...
... one of them had responded "you dumbass that's a hoax"
Marcia Kramer: Mrs. Clinton, what do you think congress can do to prevent such computer problems as the "Mellisa" virus?
Mrs. Clinton: Who is Mellisa?
I'll vote for someone who knows ISA from PCI.
The two party system has worked well and it turns
out that we live in a free country which is
the best in the world.
It's truly sad that these senate candidates even considered the fact that this might be a bill. It might normally be understandable to not remember every bill by name, except this isn't even the proper syntax for a bill! Bills normally have the preface H.R. in the House of Representatives or S in the Senate. Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio should go do their homework and find out how their new job will work before running for it!
"I have not failed. I've simply found 10,000 ways that won't work." --Thomas Edison
I love it when i forget to format :P
Got a beef? Plug a name into the Bizarre Rumour Generator!
Um, someone should do something nasty to whoever thought up the "broadcast this message to everyone in my contact list" command. Grumble.
:)
The last one I saw had the whole "they can't do this if we forward this to $BIGNUM people"; I wonder why - perhaps their servers couldn't take the load?
Hmmm.
The government is going to start charging a fee of $2 every time you open your mouth unless you tell everyone you pass in the street about this.
Yes. Hmmm. It'd make a change from cellphones going off during math lectures
--
Pretend that something especially witty is here. Thanks.
ok... hehehe, this one works great...
..
:)
Take an ad out in a newspaper that says:
Never fail a drug test again!!! Send 10$ TO:
When you get the money, send them a small peice of paper that says:
DON'T DO DRUGS
Sorry, that was offtopic, but it's damn funny...
Shit adds up at the bottom...
Not the Messerschimdt, theyd want the specs of the Enigma - so they can wear a T-Shirt with blueprint on the back!
-- Cheer, Cheer, The Red and the White.
$5 says the moderator of the Clinton/Lazio debate will have a slightly harder time finding another moderating position after pulling something like that...
I heard some caller to a radio show this morning claim that this rumor came about as a result of a Canadian bill 602P that was real. Someone repackaged it as though it were happening in the U.S. This is the first that I've ever heard this part of the legend, so I thought I'd pass it along. The whole idea of taxing emails is so absurd that I have difficulty believing that any legislative body would actually entertain it, but this is Canada after all :-)
"If I have seen further than other men, it is by stepping on their glasses." - Michael Swaine
----
I've always wondered how people were stupid enough to keep forwarding on all those ICQ rumours (you know, the ones about ICQ starting to charge people unless you forward the message on).
;)
;)
I used to make fun of people that sent them on, but now I wonder if I was being too harsh!?
Slashdot are going to start charging a fee of 10 cents for every 'first post', unless you forward this on to everyone in your email address book.
Ahem...
"How much truth can advertising buy?" - iNsuRge - AK47
"How much truth can advertising buy?" - iNsuRge - AK47
I think we should be more glad about the fact that both candidates were enthusiastially against this bill. Even the idea of an e-mail tax is ridiculous; it's good to sea that both Clinton and Lazio oppose it not just in politics but in principle.
It's all a matter of trust. Trusting no politicians is not an option and will hurt you economically if others do take the risk -- nor is trusting every fool with a gavel. The truth is in the middle. I'm grateful to be living in a country where I think I can (mostly) trust the government to provide me this kind of services. So, whether you trust Clinton and Lazio or not is not very relevant. The major advancement here is the clear and present danger that e-mail taxes present.
Yeah right.
MMhhh let me think... Company might have the chance to make a lot of money without having to do anything? Yep, they would drop it.
No really I am sure they would not only smile but grin from ear to ear if they would get the chance to propose and push such a thing through.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
I can't believe this, I'm stunned. If you ask a question, it is wise to be familiar with the subject area before asking. It seems that maybe 80-90% (ok, we'll say a majority) of Internet users knew of this hoax. If the moderator is a non-Internet user then he/she has no business asking the question. I have to know who it is.
I doubt he/she has email (or would give out (lol)).
Coulda been worse - at least their reaction, when put on the spot with something they didn't know about and hadn't paid attention to years of hoax warnings, was "no, we shouldn't be taxing the net" as opposed to "yes, my staff has been evaluating the right way to tax the net and we'll be sure to check out that proposal as well."
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
No, it's just that someone repackaged the hoax with changing all references from US to Canada...or vis versa. It's still a hoax.
-David T. C.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
It's a sad state of affairs. These are the people who are responsible for governing the way our countries work. Yet more and more demonstrations that those people "in power" either know diddly-squat about what it is that they are gibbering on about, or that they don't understand the effects that their actions are having in the Real World - highlighted, perhaps, by the UK RIP act and so many other draconian tidbits of shite that seem to be circulating the upper echelons nowadays.
Those having a good laugh at them, fine, but do remember that this is where the future *can* lie.
Those defending their actions... no comment.
-flec
One thing the news story does not mention is if the debate moderator thought it was a real bill or simply mentioned it as a test for the candidates. If it's the former, the moderator should be fired for not fact-checking before asking questions. If it's the latter, she should be commended for creating such a hilarious moment.
Free Hans!