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fax.com Finally Fined $5M For Fax Spam

Posted by timothy on from the phew dept.

originalhack writes "If you are tired of getting calls in the middle of the night with nothing but a fax calling tone, you will celebrate this. Fax.com, who is well known for wardialing in their search for fax machines and for sending junk faxes, has finally actually been fined. The long arm of the law often moves slowly, here is the order. If you don't want to wait for the feds to stop your favorite junk faxer, you can try your luck in small claims. Federal law passed in 1991 (known as the TCPA) makes it illegal to send any material transmitted via facsimile that advertises the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or services which is transmitted to any person without that person's prior express invitation or permission. If the fax was deliberately sent to you (as most junk faxes are), Federal law entitles you to recover a minimum of $500 and, depending the judge's discretion, up to $1,500 for each such fax that you receive. More info at junkfax.org."

9 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe we need a email - FAX service ... by openmtl · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) Build an email -> FAX gateway with catchall domain.

    2) Put semantically overloaded email addresses into OPT-OUT/Cancel/Remove links on various web sites.

    3) Wait for FAXES to print out.

    4) Start legal procedings in small claims.

    5) ...

    6) Profit.

    --

  2. That fast! by -Maurice66- · · Score: 3, Funny

    So this fax bit is covered now... however:

    What are they doing about Telex spam? When are they going to fine telex spam?

    M

  3. Ounce of prevention... by drpickett · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ya know, if fax.com had just taken the time to buy out the senators and representatives from their region, they probably would have avoided this whole mess, and they probably could have gotten away with less capital outlay - This model has been shown to work with other high profile companies

    1. Re:Ounce of prevention... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      They offered them tonnes of money--but they sent the offer by fax.

  4. Yet again, by Gary+Whittles · · Score: 1, Funny

    the State hits down hard on free enterprise.

    Fax.com might not have been doing something that made people feel all warm and gooey inside, but it was contributing to the economy and giving people valuable employment. Like all government intervention in business, this will lead to inefficiency and stagnation. The free market should be left to decide these matters, not lawyers and government departments.

    --
    1. Re:Yet again, by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny
      The governement was already interfering in the gun, rope and tar'n'feather industries by preventing people from doing what needed doing.

      (I can't figure out if your post has a hidden smiley. Can you figure out if mine has one?)

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  5. Wait a sec... by graveyardduckx · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean all of those modem handshakes after I got a cable modem were real? I thought I was just having nightmares about my old 2400... nooooooo

  6. my usual reply to unwanted faxes ... by selderrr · · Score: 5, Funny
    was sent form my computer (so it took me 3 secs to send it) and had this default message (translated from dutch) :

    Hi there, I just received a fax from you and wish to inform you that I am not interested in your product since I am a one man company with little budget and strict policy of not buying goods that are sent through unsollicited faxes.<br>
    Sincerely yours, [name]<br>
    PS : there is something wrong with our fax- computer : it sometimes sends the text in landscape mode with 512point character size. If this fax is one of those, please let us know and we will re-fax the message.<br><br>
    The most amazing thing was that some of them even replied. In which case I did send teh fax again (in 512 point again offcourse, making them pay another solid 6 meter of paper and half a fax cartridge) One of them seemed smart enough to send back a message in 512 point size too, which costed me nothing since I received faxes on my mac. Nowadays many spammers use this feature too, or don't let the fax machine accept my reply. I gave up faxing a long time ago anyway
    --
    When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
  7. $500 by imkonen · · Score: 2, Funny
    So if I get woken up in the middle of the night only to hear a bunch of whistles when I pick up my phone I get nothing. But I plug a fax machine in and I can claim $500 each time it happens?

    I need to buy a fax machine...