--- Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 08:12:34 -0400 From: "J.D. Abolins" <jda-irat_private> Subject: Fwd: You can't talk back to the Office of Homeland Security To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Reply-to: jda-irat_private Declan, I'll spare you a rambling commentary. Just forwarding this: We're Not Making This Up You can't talk back to the Office of Homeland Security http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:22309 by Chris Harris June 26, 2003 Homeland Security may have broken the law when it sent this fax to our offices without identifying itself with contact information in the margin. Newspaper's fax machines ring off around the clock. Here, at the Advocate, it's no different. But it is a rare fax that doesn't offer some kind of contact information -- an address, a phone number, the name of a person to whom questions can be directed. After all, if they are sending you a fax, they probably want to get your attention, and be available for questions if you need clarification. That said, this reporter was confounded last week at the arrival of several faxes, here at the Advocate's office, from the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Cabinet department created by President George W. Bush in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, to consolidate America's defenses against future and potential terrorist attacks. The faxes failed to include contact information for the agency's press offices, and did not include details concerning from where, specifically, the fax had come. The fax claimed to come from the Office of the Press Secretary, but that person wasn't named. There were no names or phone numbers or addresses on the fax. So we logged onto the Homeland Security website, looking for contact information No luck. However, double-clicking on the link dubbed "Contact Us" did lead to an online form that visitors can fill out, and submit to the department's offices stating what business they've got with Homeland Security, and perhaps, in time, get a response. A quick call to "411," and I was able to secure a phone number for the department. A simple question -- "Could I speak with the press secretary?" -- was met with a dismissive response from the woman who answered the phone at Homeland Security's press office. "I will tell the press secretary you called, and give him the message," I was informed. But, wait -- why is there no contact information on your fax transmissions? "We never have included that information on our press releases," she explained. "But, I'll note that. We'll look into that. We're a little jammed up right now. I'll pass your message along." We never heard back from the Office of Homeland Security, whoever they are. It's a little-known fact that every fax transmission must include what is called "identifying information," to allow recipients of said faxes the opportunity to respond to the whoever had sent it. That's the law -- the Federal Communications Commission, an independent United States government office requires that, at the top of all fax transmissions, the name and telephone number of the fax's originator be displayed. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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