A British polling company again is flooding American fax machines with bogus surveys. If you participate, however, you might be surprised at the price tag.

The company, 21st Century Faxes Ltd, drafts surveys on controversial issues expecting recipients to fax their vote to a 900 number listed. Although the company claims they make sure decision makers are hearing your opinion, their actual agenda is tallying up revenue off the 900-number calls. Casting a vote ties up your fax line for about two minutes at $2.95 per minute. This is a small price for democracy, the company points out.

Rather than respond to these faxes, file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) toll free at 1-888-CALL-FCC (225-5322) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) toll free at 1-887-FTC-HELP (382-4357). An FCC and FTC investigation into unsolicited faxes is currently underway.

The FCC's rules require that any message sent to a fax machine must clearly display on the first page or on each page of the message:

The date and time the transmission is sent; the identity of the sender; and the telephone number of the sender or of the sending fax machine.