FC: Calif. state senator asks for input in "junk fax survey"

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Sat Jan 26 2002 - 02:38:21 PST

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    ---------- Forwarded message ----------
    Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 14:25:06 -0800
    From: Jim Warren <jwarrenat_private>
    Subject: Re: A Low-Tech Problem
    
    Hot stuff! [blind-cc to many]
    
    Just received this from Calif State Senator Debra Bowen's office! 
    First step towards possibly curing this outrage.  (I shut off my fax, 
    years ago, exclusively because of this problem.)
    
    --jim
    
    ===
    
    ARE JUNK FAXES BURNING UP YOUR PAPER & TONER?
    SENATOR BOWEN POSTS NEW WEB SURVEY TO HEAR FROM YOU
    
    SACRAMENTO - Getting input from Californians about their experiences 
    with junk faxes is the goal of Senator Debra Bowen's (D-Redondo 
    Beach) new website survey on unsolicited facsimile advertisements.
    
    "I've had dozens of phone calls and letters from people who are tired 
    of having direct marketers tie up their fax lines and burn up their 
    paper and toner by sending what amounts to unsolicited junk mail," 
    said Bowen.  "One small businesswoman actually sent me an inch-high 
    stack of these sales pitches that poured into her insurance office 
    over the course of several weeks."
    
    Under federal law, it's illegal to send unsolicited faxes, but 
    California law has an "opt-out" mechanism, which allows advertisers 
    to send anyone with a fax machine non-stop sales pitches until the 
    recipient calls the sender and asks to be taken off their marketing 
    list.
    
    "Junk faxes aren't just an annoying invasion of privacy, they also 
    force people to foot the advertising costs of direct marketers trying 
    to hock wireless phone services, office equipment, vacation packages, 
    and more," concluded Bowen.  "Marketers are a lot like ants in the 
    sense that every time you block off one entry point, they seem to 
    find another way to get inside your home and invade your privacy."
    
    In 1991, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) reported 
    that receiving unsolicited faxes cost California consumers and 
    businesses an estimated $17 million a year.  Since that time, the 
    volume of junk faxes received at California homes and businesses has 
    grown dramatically.  (The 1991 publication is the last official 
    report assembled on the issue.)
    
    To participate in the survey, go to Senator Bowen's homepage at 
    http://www.senate.ca.gov/bowen and click on "Junk Fax Survey" in the 
    right-hand column.  To share thoughts and opinions in a letter, write 
    to: Senator Debra Bowen, State Capitol, Room 4040, Sacramento, CA 
    95814.
    
    
    
    
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