FCC Delays Junk Fax Rules Until 2005

Washington Post | 8-20-03 | PackerBoy

[PackerBoy]

FCC Delays Junk Fax Rules Until 2005

The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 19, 2003; 12:19 PM

The Federal Communications Commission has delayed until 2005 a new rule requiring companies to obtain written permission before sending unsolicited faxes.

The new regulations originally were to take effect next Monday, but the commission earlier this week agreed to delay the starting date to Jan. 1, 2005. The FCC said the delay will give businesses more time to get signed approval forms from people to whom they want to send faxes, and will provide more time for the commission to respond to requests to reconsider the new rules.

Under current regulations, entities do not have to obtain written permission to fax unsolicited advertisements to individuals and companies that they already do business with. Such entities cannot fax unsolicited advertisements to anyone that they do not have a business relationship with, unless they first receive permission to do so.

The new fax rules were approved at the same time as the do-not-call list, which takes effect Oct. 1. More than 30 million Americans have signed the registry for blocking unsolicited telephone sales pitches.

[PackerBoy]

Feds wimp out. So many junk faxers, so little time (to prepare for doom).

[evolved_rage]

Hey gubmint, get off your fat a$$es and do some work. No more junk faxes...

[Shermy]

Result of recent campaign "contributions", no doubt.

[kcar]

As a rule - NEVER do business with any sleasey advertiser. Pop-ups by any companies - on the never-buy list. Fax ink suppliers faxing you multiple ink-intensive ads? - die young and painfully, thank you.

[Age of Reason]

The use of the fax machine in my own line of work has faded in the past 3 years to nearly zero.

It figures the government would only now get around to controlling junk faxes.

[Age of Reason]

My favorite annoyance was when I'd remotely retrieve faxes sent to my office while I was away.

The retrieving would tie up a phone line for several minutes, only for me to see that all the faxes were junk advertisements.

Arrrgh.

[kcar]

My favorite annoyance is from a stupid non-junk user, who mistakes your telephone number for your fax number, and then their fax machine calls your real number repeatedly with that whining noise, trying endlessly to perform its connection mandate, and it's like Terminator - it will never stop and it will never give up. If you're in an office alone late at night it can drive you nuts. I've had someone finally end this all because they happened to recognize my voice yelling DIE, DIE while walking past their fax machine. That'll kill your calm collected corporate image in a hurry for sure.
Rule # 2: NEVER give your fax number at the same time with your telephone number- make them request that separately.

[PackerBoy]

Oddly enough the federal anti-junk fax law has been around since 1991. Not too many people knew about it, though. Th erecent rule change meant that junk faxers had to obtain a recipient's "written permission" to fax advertisements. The current rule says that "express permission" is needed (and the junk faxers always lie and say that they did receive express permission).

I have a couple of junk fax cases going right now for clients. The civil damages one can receiver are $500 per fax. We have one defendant who sends out 30,000-40,000 a month -- without anyone's prior permission. His lawyer is clueless, too.

[PackerBoy]

receiver = recover