Replies

I don't know where you live, but there is nothing "public" about my telephone service

PErsonally I agree with people about the fact that spam is pretty annoying, but bear in mind that your telephone is analagous to a mailbox. You get shopping flyers right ? It's just another minor annoyance that has to be tolerated.

The analogy breaks down here, because I'm not being forced to pay for printing up the shopping flyers in the mailbox.

PErsonally I agree with people about the fact that spam is pretty annoying, but bear in mind that your telephone is analagous to a mailbox. You get shopping flyers right ? It's just another minor annoyance that has to be tolerated.

You are missing the main difference between a mailbox and telephone, e-mail, and fax.

With a mailbox

the person sending the message has to pay for its delivery. There is no cost inclured by the person receiveing the message.
A mailbox can not be "tied up". Receiving an advertisement in your mailbox doesn't prevent you from receiving other things in your mailbox at the same time.
Your mailbox service is a "free" service. You don't pay a monthly fee to have a mailbox.

With telephone, fax, & e-mail

The person receiving the advertisement incurs a cost. Paper, connection time, etc...
Advertisements make the telephone, fax, and computer unavailable for others uses. If an ad is tieing up your fax machine when a legitimate fax comes in, you will not receive it (or your reception will be delayed) because your fax has been taken over by an advertisement. Same with the telephone.
E-mail mailboxes have a size limit. Ads take up your e-mail space allotment on the e-mail server. Making it more likely that a legitimate message will not be delivered because your mailbox is full. The same is true for cell phone mailboxes and answering machines, they all have a limited message capacity.
Telephones, fax, and e-mail are not "free" services. You pay a monthly fee for the service. Since you pay for the service, the decision of who may or may not use the service you are paying for is yours.

It's just another minor annoyance that has to be tolerated.

I respectfully disagree. If I personally call you up at your house and start bugging you, and you tell me not to call you back, and I continue to call you back, that is harrassment, and that is a crime.

It's time to apply the same rule to these businesses that we already apply to individual people.