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> Have any of you received unsolicited commercial junk email?

Yes, too much of it (i.e. I get more than NONE).

I know this doesn't really have anything to do with diving, but I got
an interesting tip recently from the Telecom Digest (which can be read
on many machines as the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup).

It seems that a computer with a modem and a printer would likely meet
the definition of a "telephone FAX machine", and that people who send
these unsolicited commercial E-mails might possibly be prosecuted
under the current "junk FAX law" (United States Code, Title 47,
Chapter 5, Subchapter II). In particular, Section 227(a)(2)(B) of the
law describes a FAX machine as "equipment which has the capacity to
transcribe text or images (or both) from an electronic signal
received over a regular telephone line onto paper." (certainly seems
like a good fit to me).

One reader of Telecom Digest claims to have had good success with the
following "canned" reply to the sysadmins at the site from whence the
offending message originated:

      The following junk mail was sent to me UNSOLICITED and
      UNWANTED by a user from your site.

      This is the same as unwanted and unsolicited junk faxes
      and telemarketing calls--all of which are ILLEGAL under
      federal law:

	   By US Code Title 47, Sec.227(a)(2)(B), a
	   computer/modem/printer meets the definition of a
	   telephone fax machine.  By Sec.227(b)(1)(C), it is
	   unlawful to send any unsolicited advertisement to
	   such equipment, punishable by action to recover
	   actual monetary loss, or $500, whichever is
	   greater, for each violation.

      Please stop this.  You have been put on notice.  I have
      recorded your site name; further UNSOLICITED and
      UNWANTED junk mail from your site will force me to
      follow up under federal law.

Note that legally, you do not have to put them on notice - there is a
$500 fine for any violation of the law (including the first one), and
I suspect it applies to *each* violation (i.e. $500 times however
many readers there are on the mailing list).

I routinely send back polite requests to stop sending me these
E-mails. It's nice to know that now I can put some "teeth" in them.

-JimG

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