---------- 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Events: Congreso Nacional de Periodismo Digital in Huesca, Spain from Jan. 17-18 (http://www.congresoperiodismo.com) and the Second International Conference on Web-Management in Diplomacy in Malta from Feb. 1-3. (http://www.diplomacy.edu/Web/conference2/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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