---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 14:03:36 -0600 From: Chet Uber <eideticat_private> To: declanat_private Cc: politechat_private Subject: Re: FC: Calif. state senator asks for input in "junk fax survey" Declan, Do I have a story to tell you. This is a short version of a real world fax spam case that happened in Omaha, Nebraska. I am only going to discuss publicly known information and am not divulging the name of the alleged perpetrator in hopes that one day they will enforce the existing laws in my state; and the cases of evidence in my storage area can be used. I was the Director of Operations at what was then the newborn "NEbraskaCERT" and had received a call from the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce regarding an 11-page FULL REVERSE (actually many different ones, but that was a good average) that they and all there members where receiving from an irate gentlemen who claimed that the city government and the Chamber were poisoning people by allowing development on a parcel of land adjacent to housing. I don't know if most people understand that toner coverage is often quoted in the low percentages per page. They do not assume that 90% of the page will be black. There was a specific businessman and his "cronies" being blamed by the attacker for all the trouble; and he was defamed in every possible lingual way in these faxes, email, and on the voluminous Web site. The attacker was using not only fax to spam the addresses from an illegally obtained Chamber member list; but rationalized that since he could purchase the same names from a local national list vendor that this was a moot point. We never got to ask him how he planned to relate the names together from that list. Yes all the companies in our city are in that list. But there is not a current Chamber member designator. Anyway ... On top of this he was using a predictive dialer to harass people and off-shore email to flood mail boxes. It was a mess to say the least, and it did not have a good technical solution. We are talking hundreds of fax machines. Some of them in Class A shared office space, beyond the control of the recieving party to an extent. I have been in IT long enough to have faxing be a business luxury and I never witnesses a storm of toner, ink and paper like that one. Anyway, in Nebraska e have laws for both predictive dialers, and fax spamming here. Also, there are arguably federal statutes that could apply. However the lawyers and representatives for the victims were not able to get the appropriate agencies to make any arrests. I will give them credit. Even the state regulatory body traded letters in an attempt to "pass-the-prosecution." They complained that the aggregate dollar value, the number of interviews required, the failure of the members of the Chamber to take out restraining orders (and thus being able to get to arguably get cause for a pen register to monitor compliance), and the possible chance of losing to the argument of free speech and setting precedent was also a consideration. This resulted in not a single arrest. The question of being an unsolicited commercial fax (and there was email) was not an issue, the attacker was using a company to fund all of the activities. A fact that adds some background is that this same attacker tried to buy and develop the same parcel of land 10 years earlier but could not raise the money. This was not a whistle blowing do-gooder, this was an entity that understood all the laws well and was purposely skirting them. They taunted there victims that they could not get relief that they would use these technological weapons to take the cause to the people. Finally the policy of ignoring them seemed to work, but it is known that the same threat is there arguably now with practice and precedent. My point in telling you about this is this. If we in society continue to allow our representatives in the various legislatures to pass laws that do NOT have ubiquitous technological solutions for enforcement; then we are engaged in folly. We are spending time putting ink on paper that will cause the beauracricies we all say we want to shrink, to grow, and little public good to happen. Don't get me wrong -- SPAM sucks. But just like the people that are trying to block pornography by detecting the amount of flesh tone in an image, it is a waste of time. They might not be caucasian. Also, I know that "Perfect is the enemy of good;" but I don't consider unenforceable laws to be good. There is not enough police time, prosecutor and court time to enforce the existing laws. Why are they there? One last point. The victim's here that were unable to get justice were the "Chamber of Commerce" and some of the largest businesses in town. If they cannot get justice on such a blatant violation -- how is the common man supposed to look at this issue. Regards, eidetic Declan McCullagh wrote: > > ---------- 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/) > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Chet Uber Senior Advisor, SecurityPosture 7660 Dodge Street, Suite D vox +1 402.498.2673 Omaha, NE 68114 fax +1 402.391.3906 eideticat_private cell +1 402.671.9720 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are not the intended recipient be advised that you have received this email in error and any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of it is strictly prohibited. It is the responsibility of the addressee to scan this mail and any attachments for computer viruses or other defects. The sender does not accept liability for any loss or damage of any nature, however caused, which may result directly or indirectly from this email or any file attached. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Security First, Security Always!" (c) 2001 All Rights Reserved -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When sending encrypted email please use My PGP Key ID 0xB8DE8D3F available on the PGP and MIT public key servers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 29 2002 - 14:45:56 PST