Junk faxes raise ire of members of Congress, new regulations emerge.

As the telephone facsimile machine, more commonly called the fax, has become ubiquitous in business offices of Los Angeles, so has the "unsolicited advertisement" -- the junk fax. But that is about to change.

Congress has just passed law lowering the boom on junk faxes, directing the Federal Communications Commission in late November to devise regulations to control unwanted facsimile advertisements. The new regulations are expected to be out in four months.

Unlike other junk mail or unsolicited telephone voice advertising, the junk fax comes with a price tag: It is printed on the recipient's paper, and thus costs the recipient money, not the advertiser.

And unlike junk mail, a junk fax can tie up a fax machine, while other vital documents are put on hold.

True, no single junk fax will probably bankrupt a business. Two pages of fax paper cost about 18 cents, given prevailing fax paper prices -- although this calculation excludes the cost of loading paper into a fax machine, and normal wear and tear.

And while junk faxes have not yet become a problem for Southland businesses, it is clear that an increased volume of junk faxes could end up costing several dollars a day -- hence, thousands of dollars a year -- enough, perhaps, to spell trouble for a small business.

Too, and perhaps more importantly, the junk faxes could keep money-making faxes from getting through in a timely manner.

To date, federal and California regulators have not rushed out to bar junk faxes from the marketplace, and now there are no regulations about junk faxes.

Regulators say there has been no hue and cry from the business world about junk faxes. "Junk faxes have not been an issue we have heard much about. They have not even been a blip on our screen," said Jim Spurlock, special assistant to the chief, with the FCC in Washington, D.C. "We have received few call, and little correspondence of any kind."

The FCC regulates interstate telephone calls.

A spokesman for the state Public Utilities Commission, which regulates phone service within the state of California, also said the commission had no regulations pertaining to faxes, and that there had been little complaint about junk faxes.

Nevertheless, Congress in November passed the Telephone Advertising Consumer Rights Act, which requires the FCC to come up with plans within four months on ways to halt junk faxes to people who don't want to get them. The legislation is actually more aimed at voice telemarketing, but includes faxes.

For the first time, the legislation requires that senders of junk faxes carry an identifying mark with the name and phone number of the sender.

Said Democratic Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, a sponsor of the bill, "This bill lets consumers put many junk calls in the trash can."

Interestingly, the White House was opposed to any new laws on junk faxes, complaining the new rules "would result in unnecessary regulation of commercial activities and could curtail technological innovation and eliminate legitimate business operations."

The Office of Management and Budget, a part of the Executive Branch of the federal budget, said the new law would bring "unnecessary regulation of commercial activities and could curtail technological innovation and eliminate legitimate business operations."

President Bush may veto the Telephone Advertising Consumer Rights bill, primarily because of the impact it would have on telemarketing.

Specifically banned by the legislation would be junk faxes generated by automated dialing machines. (The bill also bans automated-dialing machine voice solicitations.)

The issue of regulating faxes may not be so simple as it first appears. Some advertisers have spoken of First Amendment rights, and the new law would exempt many kinds of telemarketers, such as pollsters and non-profit organizations.

No one knows how many fax machines are in the Los Angeles market. "We don't sell them, and we don't keep track of how many are plugged into our network," said Michael Runsler, spokesman for the telephone giant, which serves most of Southern California.

In the long run, perhaps, the issue of junk faxes may become irrelevant. Already on the market are fax machines that can receive faxes in a paperless fashion -- that is, the faxed message is stored in a computer's memory system. If the recipient is so inclined, the message -- after being read on a computer screen -- can be printed out. This would effectively allow fax machine owners to screen faxed messages, and print out only those messages desired.