Chris Harris
You can't talk back to the Office of Homeland Security
Fri Jun 27 04:51:50 2003
208.152.73.42

We're Not Making This Up
You can't talk back to the Office of Homeland Security
http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:22309

by Chris Harris

June 26, 2003

Homeland Security may have broken the law when it sent this fax to our
offices without identifying itself with contact information in the margin.

2b61fad.jpg


Newspaper's fax machines ring off around the clock. Here, at the Advocate,
it's no different. But it is a rare fax that doesn't offer some kind of
contact information -- an address, a phone number, the name of a person to
whom questions can be directed.

After all, if they are sending you a fax, they probably want to get your
attention, and be available for questions if you need clarification.

That said, this reporter was confounded last week at the arrival of several
faxes, here at the Advocate's office, from the United States Department of
Homeland Security, the Cabinet department created by President George W.
Bush in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, to consolidate
America's defenses against future and potential terrorist attacks.

The faxes failed to include contact information for the agency's press
offices, and did not include details concerning from where, specifically,
the fax had come. The fax claimed to come from the Office of the Press
Secretary, but that person wasn't named. There were no names or phone
numbers or addresses on the fax.

So we logged onto the Homeland Security website, looking for contact
information No luck. However, double-clicking on the link dubbed "Contact
Us" did lead to an online form that visitors can fill out, and submit to
the department's offices stating what business they've got with Homeland
Security, and perhaps, in time, get a response.

A quick call to "411," and I was able to secure a phone number for the
department. A simple question -- "Could I speak with the press secretary?"
-- was met with a dismissive response from the woman who answered the phone
at Homeland Security's press office.

"I will tell the press secretary you called, and give him the message," I
was informed.

But, wait -- why is there no contact information on your fax transmissions?

"We never have included that information on our press releases," she
explained. "But, I'll note that. We'll look into that. We're a little
jammed up right now. I'll pass your message along."

We never heard back from the Office of Homeland Security, whoever they are.

It's a little-known fact that every fax transmission must include what is
called "identifying information," to allow recipients of said faxes the
opportunity to respond to the whoever had sent it. That's the law -- the
Federal Communications Commission, an independent United States government
office requires that, at the top of all fax transmissions, the name and
telephone number of the fax's originator be displayed.

According to Kurt Schroeder, deputy chief of the telecommunications
consumer division of the FCC, the 1991 mandate was established as "it's a
general concern that people should know where faxes are coming from, so
that if they need to contact that party for any reason, including to
request that the faxes not be sent anymore, they have that information in
order to do so."

The law reads that it is "unlawful for someone to send a fax unless the
message clearly contains, at the margin at the top or bottom of each
transmitted page, or on the first page of the transmission, the date and
time it was sent, an identification of the business, other entity, or
individual sending the message, and the telephone number of the sending
machine or such business, other entity, or individual," Schroeder says, a
violation that carries a fine of up to $11,000.

This reporter called Homeland Security's press office four times in three
days, left messages, and by press time, had not heard back from the press
secretary, whoever that might be.

The Advocate decided to call the Manhattan offices of the American Civil
Liberties Union, "our nation's guardian of liberty," about this whole
Homeland mess.

"It does sound strange," said an ACLU spokesperson, who asked not to be
named. "I'm not sure why they wouldn't provide that information It's hard
to know what conclusions to draw. It does make you think, though."

Next call was to U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd's office. Surely, he would be
interested in hearing about this informational oversight. Although Dodd
could not be reached for comment, his spokesman, Marvin Fast, did have this
to say: "The Department of Homeland Security has the critically important
task of defending our nation. And obviously, while they have great
responsibilities more important than this, we would hope that this is
nothing more than an innocent mistake that can be corrected."

Here's to hoping. We'll keep you informed.

Use our contact form to write to Chris Harris.
http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/forms/contact?oid=oid%3A252
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