In a move that British Telecommunications Plc and Mercury Communications Ltd may soon be pressured into following, Hong Kong Telecom Ltd has taken steps to eradicate the annoyance of junk fax – unwanted advertising messages that waste time and paper on the recipient’s facsimile machine. The Teleputing Hotline reports that Hong Kong has seen tremendous growth in facsimile use in recent years: in 1985, only 400 machines were in use in Hong Kong; in 1988, the number reached 50,000. Since then it has doubled, and Hong Kong Tel is continuing to install 2,000 lines each month. Hong Kong is now the second heaviest user of facsimile per capita after Japan, and has seen an escalation in junk fax as sales operations realise that facsimile can be the most direct way of getting their message into the office of a targeted customer. Accordingly, the phone company has initiated a contract policy and an Adfax facility designed to stop junk faxers, while enabling those that do want to receive advertisements to control exactly how much they get. Hong Kong Tel has made it a condition of service that its lines are not used for the distribution of unsolicited advertising. A special phone and facsimile service has been set up for customers to report the receipt of junk fax mail. On receipt of a complaint, a warning is issued that if the offender persists phone and fax lines will be disconnected. For those who do want facsimiled ads, the Adfax service acts as a broadcaster. Senders provide advertisements on paper or as computer files in a desktop publishing format, with a total charge of $115 per thousand messages sent being shared between sender and recipient. Each message carries a note informing the recipients of a number to call if they wish to opt off Adfax mailing lists in the future; the number of calls on Adfax is also limited calls to three per day on each faxline number.
