Bill 602P - Email Tax for Australia
Netlore Archive: 'Bill 602P' calling for a tax on email moves Down Under
Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: Apr 2001 (this version)
Status: False
(See also: Bill 602P, Canadian Version and Bill 602P, U.S. Version)
Email example contributed by I. Page, April 20, 2001:
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Subject: email news
Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online, and continue using E-mail. The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government of the Australia attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect our use of the Internet. Under proposed legislation, the Australian Postal Service will be attempting to bill E-mail users out of "alternative postage fees." Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent surcharge on every E-mail delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP. Canberra lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law. The Australian Postal Service is claiming lost revenue, due to the proliferation of E-mail, 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 person received about 10 pieces of E-mail per day in 1998, the cost of the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents a day or over $180 per year-above and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid directly to the Australian Postal Service for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and noninterference. You are already paying an exorbitant price for ordinary mail because of bad efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered anywhere in Australia or longer If the Australian Postal Service is allowed to interfere with E-mail, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in Australia Our Canberra representative, Tony Schnell (r) has even suggested a "$20- $40 per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the governments proposed E-mail charges Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the Story, the only exception being the Sun herald which called the idea of E-mail surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th, 1999 Editorial). Do not sit by and watch your freedom erode away! Send this to E-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell your friends and relatives write their Canberra or local polictian representative and say "NO" to Bill 602P. It will only take a few moments of your time and could very well be instrumental in killing a bill we do not want. Please forward |
Comments: The "Bill 602P" hoax has been clogging inboxes since 1999, first in Canada, then in the U.S., and now in Australia. Apart from a few cosmetic changes intended to make the text appear Australian in origin, the above 2001 variant is virtually identical to its predecessors.
An Aussie informant writes:
A very clumsy patch-up job of the Canadian hoax --Richard Stepp has become a "Canberra [federal capital of Australia] lawyer," the Toronto Star has become the "Sun herald" [sic], and "Mississauga to Scarborough" changes to "anywhere in Australia."
More tellingly, we don't have an "Australian Postal Service" - it's called Australia Post. So far as I know, there has been no recent ad campaign using the slogan "There is nothing like a letter" in Australia - in fact, I've never heard of it, and I work in advertising. Australian politicians are never referred to as "representatives," and they don't have "(r)" after their names because we don't have Republicans (or Democrats, for that matter). And bills presented to the Australian Parliament are never known by a number (do they have numbers?), but by name. To an Aussie ear "Bill 602P" sounds totally phony, but obviously some people are ready to buy anything.
Further reading:
Bill 602P - Canadian Version
The original email, circulating since 1999.Bill 602P - U.S. Version
Believe it or not, Canadian MP Tony Schnell is also a member of the U.S. Congress!
