Truth exposed, misunderstanding, misinformation or hoax? Sometimes, it's hard to tell. Here are some of the current "hot topics" going around, and it turns out they're not causes for concern after all.
WebTV Dial-Up Numbers Shared with Other ISPs
A Net4TV Voice reader tells us:
OK the community is getting the alert that once again something is NOT
right! Here is a follow-up on this issue, as posted by shocked
consumers in the Newsgroups who are just now discovering this covert
activity:
From: xxxxx@webtv.net (xxx)
Re: Wondered why Webtv so Slow----
I've contacted WEBTV several times about the situation, told them I have
three access numbers, but all three being shared by other ISP's. I noted
one line in particular was being shared by three other ISP's. Like you
said, can only get worse.
Another reader asks us:
Can you get to the bottom of this and help expose Webtv's lies? They are letting NetZero customers who don't pay ANYTHING use our Webtv numbers and that's why our service has gotten so slow.
Hold on a second. We've gotten a lot of emails about this -- some which accuse WebTV of even being involved in a conspiracy. It's not that at all.
WebTV itself doesn't own any dial-up numbers. All over the United States, it has contracted with local, regional and national ISPs to provide the dial-up numbers and "modem pools" that WebTV users use to connect to the service. In the beginning, we could only use those ISPs with whom WebTV itself had contracted. Then, OpenISP was added to allow us to choose our own ISPs, if we want, and pay them directly for the modem connection.
Now, what obviously is happening is that some of those contracted ISPs are out selling dial-up numbers and modem pools to other ISPs and services in addition to WebTV. The connections may indeed be harder to make (although a busy modem pool will give you a busy signal more frequently, but shouldn't make the service itself run more slowly). But in this case, the company "at fault" isn't WebTV -- it's the ISP they're getting the dial-up number from.
And, if you like, you can take the business away from that ISP by finding your own and switching to OpenISP service. But be aware, you're likely to be sharing a modem pool no matter where you go. Dial-up numbers are in high demand and short supply everywhere because of the exploding Internet.
In the case of NetZero, by the way, just because it’s a free service doesn't mean that it doesn't cost NetZero. They think they're going to be able to pay for all of the connections and be profitable on top of it through advertising alone. We think they're not. Time will tell.
Hoaxes and Rumors
Here's a roundup of the latest Internet hoaxes currently circulating through your e-mail box. If you've received any of these, don't forward them to us or any of your friends. Remember, no reputable company uses forwarded email as a marketing tool. Any time you receive an email with a long list of >>>>>>>>>> and forwarded addresses, you can be sure of these things:
It isn't true.
Forwarding it will annoy your friends.
No matter how many exclamation points it contains or how dire (or exciting) the message, if the only place you're hearing this is in forwarded e-mail, it isn't true.
The only person(s) profiting from this activity (other than some juvenile pranksters) are those people who harvest email addresses to sell to spammers.
It isn't true.
Oh, yeah, and it isn't true, either, did I mention that?
Top Five Things to Do With A Chain E-mail
Delete immediately.
Delete immediately.
Delete immediately.
Delete immediately.
Delete immediately.
But what about those Virus Warnings, threatening everything from reformatting your hard drive to disrupting your sex life? Take a deep breath and repeat after me. "It isn't true. Nobody informs people of any real information by telling them to forward it to everyone they know." WebTV Users, you can't even GET a virus, so don't be forwarding on these things and letting your email address and those of your friends be harvested by spammers.
There is no such thing as an "email tracking system!" Bill Gates, Disney, AOL, Abecrombie & Fitch....NONE of these people are hanging around waiting to see how many friends you have in your address book and packing up your valuable gifts, prizes, money, etc. Sorry, ain't gonna happen. All you'll get is a bunch of annoyed and disappointed friends if you fall for one of these and mass-forward to your mailing list.
Check it Out!
Snopes.com is your friend. Instead of forwarding urban legends and hoaxes, why not encourage your friends to check a hoax-busting site regularly? You'll be amazed what you can find out there. Even your intrepid correspondent has discovered recently that a favorite anecdote involving guitarist Eric Clapton and a clueless minister is in fact, an Urban Legend. Sad, but enlightening.
For those dire tales of Internet taxes, email surcharges and the like, you can also check a reputable news source such as CNN. If anything of the sort is being contemplated, you can be assured that the media will be screaming after the story.
As promised, here's a couple of goodies from our inbox:
CNN has reported that within the next two weeks Congress is going to vote on allowing telephone companies to CHARGE A TOLL FEE for direct Internet access. Translation: Every time we send a long distance e-mail we will receive a long distance charge. This will get costly. Please visit the following web site and file a complaint. Complain to your Congressperson. We can't allow this to pass! The following address will allow you to send an e-mail on this subject DIRECTLY to your Congressperson.
http://www.house.gov/writerep
Pass this on to your friends. It is urgent! I hope all of you will pass this on to all your friends and family. We should ALL have an interest in this one.
WAIT, THERE'S MORE.
IN ADDITION,
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 DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law. The US 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 US 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 bureaucratic inefficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from New York to Buffalo. If the US Postal Service is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United States. One congressman, Tony School (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 e-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends and relatives to write to their congressman 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 don't want. PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHO USES EMAIL REMEMBER THESE ARE TWO SEPARATE ISSUES THAT EFFECT ALL OF US ONLINE LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD NOW, NOT AFTER.
This is a hoax! It ISN'T true!
Subject: New Virus to Look Out For
PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.
If you receive an email titled "It Takes
Guts to Say Jesus"
DO NOT OPEN IT.
It will erase everything on your hard drive.
This information was announced yesterday
morning from IBM;
AOL states that this is a very dangerous virus,
much worse than "Melissa," and that there is NO remedy
for it at this time.
Some very sick individual has succeeded in
using the reformat function from Norton Utilities
causing it to completely erase all documents on the
hard drive. It has been designed to work with Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
It destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible computers.
This is a new, very malicious virus and not
many people know about it. Pass this warning along to
EVERYONE in your address book and please share it
with all your online friends ASAP so that this threat
may be stopped.
Please practice cautionary measures and tell anyone
that may have access to your computer.
Forward this warning to everyone that might
access the Internet.
Joyce L. Bober
IBM Information Systems
Pittsburgh Mailing Systems
412/922-8744
412/937-1730 Fax
This is a hoax, too! It ISN'T true, either!
If you receive any tasty e-mail forwards, especially new ones, forward them to one address only: voice@iacta.com. We'll print them and expose the hype for what it is, a bunch of time-wasting trouble that helps only one person--the guy who wants your email address for his own purposes. Don't help spammers!
Our appreciation to Skat1 for assistance in this compilation of current hoaxes.
