It's time to put the spam fax comparisons to bed. They are irrelevant to this discussion for two reasons:
1. The recipient of a spam fax incurs a cost.
2. There are no excpetions nor is there a preferred group of faxers which are permitted to continue spam faxing. In fact the fax ruling is not even restricted to commercial faxes.
ANYONE is the wording used in this FTC opinion:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/audio...ited_faxes.htm
Extrapolate all you want and wish it weren't so, but the fact remains, we have rules and this one violates them. Plain and simple. Remove the exceptions and bingo, no more problem.
-bear