FCC enforces flagrant abuse by faxers

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Aug 13, 2002 by Nora Jones

How many unsolicited faxes plague your office? More importantly, how many do you send?

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (which amended the Communications Act of 1934) included provisions prohibiting unsolicited advertising via fax.

"It shall be unlawful for any person within the U.S. .... to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine," 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1).

Fax.com, was notified by the Federal Communications Commission of potential liability for $5,379,000 in fines for 489 fax violations. With a fine of $11,000 per violation, the FCC Enforcement Bureau adopted the Notice of Apparent Liability, which was also supported by FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy.

"I strongly support this Notice of Apparent Liability and hope that other fax broadcasters will take notice that the Commission will strictly enforce the Telephone Consumer Protection Act," wrote Abernathy in a related press release. "As set forth in detail in the NAL, Fax.com appears to have founded its business on the practice of sending unsolicited faxes in flagrant violation of the TCPA."