FC: Dept of Homeland Security wants to be, illegally... anonymous?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 08:12:34 -0400
From: "J.D. Abolins" <jda-ir () njcc com>
Subject: Fwd: You can't talk back to the Office of Homeland Security
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Reply-to: jda-ir () njcc com

Declan,

I'll spare you a rambling commentary. Just forwarding this:

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.

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.

[...]




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