Bill to Curb Ad Calls, Faxes Sent to Bush

Congress on Wednesday passed and sent to President Bush a bill to restrict telephone advertising calls and facsimile messages to homes and offices.

The bill would ban the use of calls made by automatic dialing machines using recorded messages to homes and emergency numbers.

It also directs the Federal Communications Commission to develop a system, such as a national data bank, where individuals who did not want to get advertising calls could list their numbers.

Americans get an estimated 18 million advertising calls each day, often through automated dialers that call numbers in sequence, often reaching unlisted and emergency lines, cellular telephones and pagers.

The bill also would require fax messages to include the name and telephone number of the sender to discourage so-called “junk faxes” that tie up facsimile machines.