Re: Get a Sony WEB TV for ONLY $204.95 + Much More!

To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
Subject: Re: Get a Sony WEB TV for ONLY $204.95 + Much More!
From: Andrew Wendt <powerpig@M-NET.ARBORNET.ORG>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 1997 02:30:02 -0400
Comments: To: "Eric P. Anderson" <crusader@MO.NET>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.96.970803133343.135C-100000@enterprise.mo.net>
Reply-To: Andrew Wendt <powerpig@M-NET.ARBORNET.ORG>

> > > 47 USC Sec. 227
> > > (a)(2) The term "telephone facsimile machine" means equipment which has
> > > the capacity (A) to transcribe text or images, or both, from paper into an
> > > electronic signal and to transmit that signal over a regular telephone
> > > line, or (B) to transcribe text or images (or both) from an electronic
> > > signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper.
> > >
> > > Seems to me that this is pretty self explanatory.  A computer meets the
> > > legal definition of "telephone facsimile machine".  Therefore UCE is
> > > illegal.
> >
> > I guess it is illegal when the computer in question has a modem ("over regular
> > telephone line"), and a scanner ("from paper into an electronic signal"), or a
> > printer ("onto paper"). =8-)
>
> The requirement of a modem I agree with, but a scanner or printer would
> not be necessary.  For one thing, only one of the prongs of that
> definition needs to be true in order to legally constitute a fax machine.
> I can transcribe text and images from paper into an electric signal
> without using a scanner.  So as long as you have a computer with a modem,
> it can be legally defined as a fax machine.

By typing it into your computer?

Come on, this is getting pretty silly. You are stretching the definition so
far it could include anything.

I could then say that me and my telephone are a facsimile machine. I can read
lines of text off a page, and speak them into the telephone, which then
converts them into an electronic signal and sends them over phone lines. So
let's ban telemarketing with the same law.

You have no idea if the computer the mail was sent from has a modem in it.  Or
*had* a modem in it at the time it was sent. It doesn't seem to matter if the
modem was actually used in transmitting the UCE. And since you are already
trying to contort a law that was obiously meant for fax machines, the case
seems pretty weak.

And what happens when the UCE people start to send the mail from Norway? Does
that law still protect you?

References:

Re: Get a Sony WEB TV for ONLY $204.95 + Much More!

From: "Eric P. Anderson" <crusader@MO.NET>