Junk faxes: Who bears the cost?
In US, several states have outlawed advertising via fax
In S'pore, it's better to tell ad firms if you are fed up
MAKE the sender of junk faxes pay for the ink and paper? Not so easy, say Singapore lawyers.
Several American states have made junk faxing illegal, and a British lawyer is hoping to do the same.
But Singapore lawyers say that the only remedy here is sell-help: to tell credit card companies and business associates not to send advertising material by fax or through the mail.
Fax numbers are easily found in telephone and fax directories, in mailing lists belonging to credit card companies, and in various business and commercial listings.
There is no law which prohibits the sending of junk faxes. Lawyers say there is also no basis for a claim for damages.
You would stand a better chance of winning a suit only if you had made it clear in the first place that you did not want to receive any junk fax, and would sue if this happened.
And this must be communicated to each and every person or company, lawyers say.
Fifteen people contacted said they were fed-up with regularly receiving junk faxes ranging from pawnbrokers and boutiques to prayer groups and counsellors.
Said a litigation lawyer, who has a fax machine at home:
"I get junk mail at the office, and when I get home, I find more of them — sometimes three or four sets of the same thing — addressed separately to my wife and myself.
"It’s irritating, but there’s nothing we can do about it, short of insisting that our numbers be taken off all the directories and various mailing lists."
Other lawyers agreed with him, saying that irritating as it may be, there was nothing to stop anyone from faxing any unsolicited material, once the fax number is known.
But Britain’s Mr Jeremy Teare is trying a novel tack.
He is taking three companies to court for wasting his time, ink and paper by sending him junk fax. To support his claim, the London-based solicitor is citing the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977.
There is no local equivalent of the Act, and lawyers say it is doubtful whether local courts would award damages to a complainant, unless it was obscene or threatening in nature.
Said an exasperated lawyer: "It’s not just the ink or the paper, but the fact that there you are, waiting for something urgent to come through, and all you get is page after page of unsolicited junk."
Florist Tan Chiang Meng, 34, said he spends about half an hour each day looking up numbers and faxing materials to potential clients.
"You never know when you may need the information," he reasoned.
"If you don’t want it, just throw it away. No hassle. Or else don’t have a fax machine."
BRITISH LAWYER SUES FIRMS FOR WASTING PAPER AND INK
ADVERTISERS who send out junk faxes not only cause criminal damage — they also pass on their costs by using a person’s fax paper, ink and time.
This is the case which Mr Jeremy Teare, a British solicitor, is bringing before a London court.
He is suing three companies for damages and hopes to set a precedent that could outlaw junk faxes, London newspaper The Independent reported recently.
He wants the court to declare that, even though his fax number is listed in a directory, this does not mean he is giving permission for people to send him advertisements by fax.
The report does not make clear what he means by "criminal damage".
Mr Teare claims that junk faxes constituted trespass to goods, in that they "unlawfully damaged" his photocopying paper, and also cites the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, saying that it was conversion, or wrongful interference with goods.
He wants the companies to stop faxing him such materials and to pay £5 (S$15), a token sum, for damaging his property.
Bedok residents get bins for junk mail
Junk mail poses such a serious problem that the Bedok Town Council has installed bins specially for residents to throw their mail in.
A spokesman for the town council said that it decided to put the bins next to the letter boxes because it noticed that many residents were littering the floor with advertisements and other junk mail.
The bins — at least one for each block — were installed last month. There are over 200 blocks in the estate.
Source : The Straits Times, June 24, 1992
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