UNIONAGAINSTCANCER @ hotmail.com – A HOAX
January 5, 2005

In one more instance of misuse of the internet and email facility, a mail generated in the name of Union against Cancer, claiming to be “a non-profit organisation trying to help a small group of people in a remote town in Karnataka near Dharwad” has been in circulation for over three years now. The original mail exhorted the recipient to “help by forwarding this message to as many people as possible” and thus there has been a proliferation of the mail in the medium of internet and email. The mail id furnished in the mail as unionagainstcancer@hotmail.com is not valid.

The mail mentions the patronage of Tata Memorial Hospital and thanks Ratan Tata for finding the sponsors who are named in the mail as The Times of India, Amala Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Trichur, Karnataka Cancer Therapy and Research Institute, Hubli and Ford Business Services Center Pvt. Ltd., Chennai.

As Ratan Tata and Tata Memorial Hospital had not been approached in the name of such an organisation and no person connected with the organisation was traceable, Tata Sons filed a suit against an unidentified defendant calling him “Ashok Kumar” following the example of the “John Doe” case in the United States which dealt with anonymous persons making false and disparaging statements on bulletin boards and through e-mails. An order restraining the defendant from using the TATA mark and domain name was passed by the Delhi High Court in April 2004 which also directed the Internet Service Provider (ISP) Hotmail to provide the name and address of the person who had registered the e-mail address unionagainstcancer@hotmail.com. Investigations are continuing to locate the initiator of the mail.

Those who may receive the e-mail from their friends or acquaintances would be well advised to refrain from forwarding it to others.