Letter: Fax flotsam
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Sir: Over the past few months, we have saved unsolicited faxes we have received, rather than binning them as normal. We now have 177 sheets of yellowing paper.
Nearly half - 45 per cent - relate to electronic equipment and services: computers, web sites, mobile telephones and databases. Lists containing 100,000, 300,000 and a staggering 1.5 million business contacts have been offered to this small business - all useless for its needs.
Other products and services form the subject of a further 27 per cent. Flyers advertising industrial paints, hex screws and a galvanising spray have appeared. A certain leaflet even carries the warning that disposing of it may be sinful. The sender was not an obscure religious cult, but a company selling photocopiers.
Some 17.5 per cent are financial in nature - debt collection services and the like. The remaining 10.5 per cent are miscellaneous, providing opportunities to annoy friends, receive love guidance and lose weight.
Who on earth responds to this rubbish? Their arrival at our premises is the penalty of having a fax number in the public domain. Doubtless, in the same way, public e-mail addresses will attract ever increasing amounts of junk e-mail. As recent converts to the Internet, we have decided that our own e-mail address will be the electronic equivalent of ex-directory. How many other companies will take this step in the years to come?
BEN DAVIES
WWAM Writers Ltd
Birmingham
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments