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Steve Kirsch doesn't work in the fax machine industry, butyou could be forgiven for thinking so. Kirsch, 47, owns SanJose-based Propel Software Corp., a 50-employee,multimillion-dollar company allowing PC users to inexpensivelyspeed up their dial-up connection service. In his spare time,he's taking on companies that send unsolicited faxes. Andhe's doing it in a big way, filing a $2.2 trillion class-actionlawsuit against Fax.com (he's still waiting for class-actioncertification before he can sue). Kirsch is so vehemently opposedto junk faxes that he created a Web site dedicated to eliminatingthe problem (www.junkfax.org).
How did this start?
Steve Kirsch: In December2001, I received a fax at my office about how I could repair mycredit for $59. I had received similar faxes a month earlier,offering the same credit-
repair course for $39. Then I received a duplicate fax two minuteslater. It really pissed me off. I did some research and learned the800 numbers on the faxes belong to Fax.com.
What response have you had from otherentrepreneurs and consumers?
Kirsch: Most people thankme. A few people asked me why I'm wasting my time on junk faxeswhen I could be helping world hunger or some other cause. Thereason is pretty simple: I receive over 1,000 junk faxes [per] yearon my home [office] fax machine. I get fax calls at all hours ofthe day and night on my voice lines. The advertiser has localcomputers dialing the phones, so all the costs for advertising areshifted onto the consumer. These people have no right to demand thepaper and ink I pay for and then demand the use of my machine toconvey their message. There are probably 10 million others who are[as] fed up as I am. If someone was already doing something aboutthis problem, I wouldn't bother with it. But the problem hasonly gotten worse. So I decided to devote some time to stoppingit.
What have you learned since you beganworking on the problem?
Kirsch: Our system ofjustice works very slowly. The federal junk-fax law has been on thebooks for 12 years, and we're still seeing erroneous rulings byjudges. The junk-fax firms are now attempting to appeal to theSupreme Court. Twelve years after a strong junk-fax law was passed,the bad guys continue to operate freely.
Geoff Williams is a writer in Loveland, Ohio. He can becontacted at gwilliams1@cinci.rr.com.
