Return of the Junk Fax

By DAN MITCHELL

Published: October 1, 2005

IN the hierarchy of annoying advertisers, the porn spammers and the pump-and-dump stock promoters dwell at the bottom. Not far above them are junk faxers, who spew unsolicited advertisements to your fax machine, using your phone line, your ink and your paper in the process.

Most junk faxes have been illegal since 1991. Since then, a federal law and Federal Communications Commission regulations have kept most machines free of unsolicited ads. But that may be changing. Why? "Because Congress just pumped new life into the junk fax industry," according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (epic.org), which issued a communication on the subject this week.