Randy Cassingham's Blog

This is Not an Emergency: I've had quite a few hysterical people send me an 'urgent' notice that "we" "must" flood the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in order to make it known that we do not want to allow the telephone companies to be able to charge by the minute for Internet access.

First: do not send me stuff like this. If you need to know why, please refer to my recently published Spam Primer.

The FCC's ruling in December was that telephone companies could not charge an access fee to Internet Service Providers!

So what does this really mean is the result of this stupid rumor? That some moron has got you fooled into punishing the FCC for doing the right thing! And if you fall for something a moron is spreading, what does that make you?!

Please: think when you get unsolicited mail urging you to do something, whether it's spam or rumors.

Still, the myth continued for several years -- hysterical readers just couldn't stand the thought that a "send this to everyone you know!" e-mail might just be a bunch of crap. Every day someone new gets online -- and gets scared by years-old rumor. It sure gets old.