$5.4m fine for spammer sending faxes (remember them)

The imaginatively named Fax.com - which manages marketing campaigns by fax - has been hit with a $5.4m fine for illegally sending unsolicited faxes to recipients across the US.

The fine is the largest of its kind ever imposed and should send shockwaves through the industry, which has built up around unsolicited emails, phone calls and faxes.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hit Fax.com with the severest possible punishment of $11,000 for each of 469 separate breaches of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Fax.com was sending out ads for products as diverse as mortgages and car parts on behalf of its clients, according to the FCC.

While email spam has gained a great deal of press coverage on the back of high profile initiatives such as the UK government's Spam Summit and the launch of the silicon.com Spam Report, fax spam has been put on the back burner.

However, the costs of ink and paper for many are actually far more quantifiable and serious than the rather intangible costs of email spam.

During the legal battle Fax.com had argued punishment would be unconstitutional - claiming it contravened its right to free speech. But anybody picking up the bill for fax paper and ink would argue that such 'speech' is far from free.

Michael Powell, chairman of the FCC, said in a statement: "'Consumers hate to go to their fax machine only to find their resources have been wasted on spam. We're sending relief in the form of a simple message to junk faxers: Violate our rules and you will pay the consequences."