An estimated 1 million people last year got slammed — that is, they had their phone carrier switched without giving their permission. Coincidentally, the Federal Communications Commission issued approximately $1 million in fines for the practice. At a mere $1 a slam, is it any wonder that this practice is picking up victims faster than you can say Ma Bell?

Along with a trick known as cramming, in which costs are added to a customer’s bill by third-party billers, slamming may be the hottest high-tech theft around. Customers unwittingly agree to the switch when they are asked a question during one of those dinner-time telephone solicitations in which saying “no” means it is OK to switch. Another common tactic is a junk mail “welcome package,” which automatically signs up a recipient unless a card is returned. Makes one wistful for the old days, when phones were considered a convenience.

The FCC tried to stop slamming about three years ago, when the practice was just getting started, by encouraging 25 states to adopt tougher rules against unauthorized switching of phone customers’ long-distance service. According to hearings last year held by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, that tactic worked not at all. Slamming, in fact, has increased since then.

The problem is especially serious because people rely on phone service more and more often. One mother told the Senate hearing that she lost the 800 number she had established for her children in case of emergencies after she had been slammed. A businessman from Portland testified that his phone lines, critical to his transportation business, were tied up for four days after he was slammed. Certainly, there are more agonizing problems in the world, but the facts remain that slamming is an invasion of a home or business, it is theft and neither the states nor the federal government have been able to do anything about it.

Sen. Susan Collins is trying to change that. She, along with Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, recently introduced a bill hopefully called the Telephone Slamming Prevention Act. The bill increases civil penalties, introduces criminal penalties and allows states to bring action against slammers in federal court. It also increases consumer protection by eliminating those “welcome packages.” The bill is a strong package of disincentives, a logical attempt to take the profit out of the practice and, if necessary, send slammers to the slammer.

Sen. Collins put it simply and accurately: “Consumers have lost control over their telecommunications service to unscrupulous providers.” Her bill is an intelligent response to the problem, one that deserves support from her colleagues.