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Lawmakers move to rescind junk fax rules (AP)
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 08:39:50 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: David Lesher <wb8foz () nrk com> Date: June 16, 2004 8:10:57 AM EDT To: farber () cis upenn edu (David Farber) Subject: Lawmakers move to rescind junk fax rules (AP) Reply-To: wb8foz () nrk com (and in an election year!....)X-URL: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8930509.htm? template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Lawmakers move to rescind junk fax rules WASHINGTON (AP) - Key House members on telecommunications issues are moving to overturn regulations aimed at preventing offices and homes from becoming inundated with junk faxes even before the already delayed rules take effect. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications subcommittee, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said he planned to introduce a bill Wednesday to rescind Federal Communications Commission regulations requiring senders of commercial faxes to get prior written approval from recipients. At a hearing Tuesday, Upton called his proposed bill ``common-sense regulatory relief'' for businesses and associations that would be burdened with cumbersome paperwork once the FCC regulations took effect. The bill was endorsed by the full committee's senior Democrat, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan. The FCC rules were originally scheduled to take effect last August but were delayed until January 2005 amid an outcry from some businesses. The fax regulations were approved at the same time as the national ``do-not-call'' registry, which protects consumers who sign up from unwanted telemarketing calls. K. Dane Snowden, chief of the FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, said the agency continues to review its fax rules. ``The record we compiled indicated that many individuals and businesses are, in fact, inundated with unsolicited faxes'' despite their efforts to be removed from the senders' fax lists, Snowden told the subcommittee. ``In addition to the cost of paper and toner associated with receiving faxes, consumers and businesses -- both large and small -- are burdened by the time spent reading and disposing of faxes,'' he added. Upton, however, cited an estimate by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that small businesses would have to spend at least $5,000 in the first year to comply with the FCC rules and more than $3,000 each year thereafter. He said his bill would still protect consumers through a provision that would require senders of commercial faxes to prominently include ``opt-out'' instructions for recipients who no longer wish to receive them. Cheryl Kaechele, testifying on behalf of the National Newspaper Association, said the FCC regulations would block a vital source of communications necessary to sustain newspaper advertising revenues. ``Our typical customers are small businesses,'' said Kaechele, publisher of the Allegan County News in Allegan, Mich. ``They would far prefer to have us send them information by fax than to spend their precious minutes on the telephone or in personal sales calls.'' Walt McDonald, president of the National Association of Realtors, said the inconvenience of requiring written permission from potential clients before sending a fax ``would be a giant step backwards in a business where good customer service depends on quick turnaround.'' The 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act prohibited the dissemination of ``unsolicited advertisements'' to fax machines. Under an existing interpretation of the law, written permission for unsolicited faxes is not required if the recipients already do business with the organization sending the fax. Susan Grant, vice president for public policy at the National Consumers League, said getting prior approval from recipients before sending them commercial faxes is one of the strongest privacy measures consumer groups have won in recent years. ``It's not surprising that it's being attacked and rolled back,'' she said. © 2004 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Lawmakers move to rescind junk fax rules (AP) David Farber (Jun 16)