Suing Fax.com For $500 Billion

from the making-a-point dept

Apparently, it's not a smart idea to piss off Steve Kirsch (who I've made fun of in the past). Following closely on the heals of the FCCs decision to fine Fax.com $5.38 million for violating fax laws, Kirsch is suing the company for $500 billion (yes, with a b). He is sick of hearing his fax machine receiving unsolicited faxes at 3am. He's trying to turn this into a class action suit, and says he may go after spammers next. His quote: "I have the resources, time and money." Okay, Steve, I'm on your side on this one.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2002 @ 8:40am

    No Subject Given

    Interestingly Bob Egelko of the Chronicle doesn't seem to understand the difference between a billion and a trillion, and now it's been picked up by Reuters that fax.com is being sued for $1.5 trillion. The total spending of the US Federal government last year was $2 trillion.
    In suits filed today in state and federal courts, software company owner Steve Kirsch and another plaintiff seek the damages provided by law, $500 for each unsolicited commercial fax over the last four years. If a judge certifies either suit as a nationwide class action on behalf of all recipients, the figure can be multiplied by 3 million, the number of faxes that the company boasts it sends each day, Kirsch said. That comes to $2.2 trillion, even without invoking another section of the law that allows judges to triple damages for willful violations, Kirsch said.
    Last time I checked 500 * 3,000,000 = 1.5 billion, not trillion.

    SFgate article

    Innumeracy in Journalism

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Dave, 23 Aug 2002 @ 9:32am

    Umm check your math

    Last time I checked $500 * 365 (days) * 4 (years) * 3,000,000 = $2.19 trillion

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.