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As if this were any different in other countries.[1] In some European countries fax is still the only official way to transfer documents digitally. I heard si
by quelltext 7y ago
As if this were any different in other countries.[1]
In some European countries fax is still the only official way to transfer documents digitally.
I heard similar rules exist in old companies in the US, in particular financial & health care ones.
Yet, when I lived in Japan I don't think I ever sent a fax or encountered a situation where faxing was necessary myself. Yes our company sometimes needed to send faxes to a bank and we needed to use workarounds (online fax sending service), so I know it's still a thing. However, it's a thing like legacy software and COBOL is a thing. It's just there waiting to be replaced when possible. Most businesses/companies are not setting up processes that require incoming faxes.
I guess there is a niche for it in small businesses that are too old (dying) and don't care to modernize. And why not? I don't think it's so weird to use faxes where it makes sense. They are just one communication tool among many.
These articles and their fascination with Japan. Just like the suicides and the sexless, herbivore men crap that is constantly making the rounds.
No, Japan is not like every other place, but it's also not that unique. At least I wished these journalists would properly identify how phenomenon x in Japan is different from the same one happening in let's say ...Finland. But that wouldn't be exotic enough to interest readers. Somehow with Japan it always has to be explained with some exceptional quality/pattern (Japanese people do this and that, culture, shame, homogeneous society...).
[1] http://theconversation.com/why-do-people-still-use-fax-machines-109064 http://theconversation.com/why-do-people-still-use-fax-machi...
- rsynnott 7y agoI think the GDPR is now mostly wiping out fax in Europe for anything important (notably, health services have been purging them for the last couple of years, and I think the financial industry is mostly calling time on them in the context of PSD2), but yeah, they've stuck around an impressively long time.
- the_mitsuhiko 7y ago> In some European countries fax is still the only official way to transfer documents digitally. Citation needed. I doubt that this is the case in the EU since the EU requires countries to implement digital signatures and they require digital transmission
- mschuster91 7y agoIn Germany, §130 ZPO mandates either a written copy (default) or as an exception a fax: https://dejure.org/gesetze/ZPO/130.html https://dejure.org/gesetze/ZPO/130.html There are exceptions for lawyers who can also use the new "beA" online service but for the general public communications with courts is either postal or fax.
- the_mitsuhiko 7y agoThat’s awful.
- detaro 7y agoIsn't a qualified digital signature in an e-mail is also appropriate, since unless explicitly excluded it can always take the place of a paper signature? There's been BGH decisions confirming that a qualified digital signature is required. (but maybe courts don't have to support it, and that only applied to courts that offer email communication?) Sadly, the entire infrastructure around digital signatures is woefully underdeveloped here, despite the legal basis existing and being fairly sound. Hey, let's give everyone an ID card that's a smart-card capable of digital signatures... and make the certificate an expensive add-on. facepalm
- rbobby 7y agoMy company has an incoming fax line solely for bank notifications. This was an upgrade from the old system where I'd call and speak to someone on the payments desk. Setting up some form of secure email, or just making the information available via their extensive web application, was a bridge too far. Funnily enough we get fax spam (usually chimney sweeping... aka vent cleaning). 2019 and fax spam still exists.
- oska 7y ago> These articles and their fascination with Japan. Just like the suicides and the sexless, herbivore men crap that is constantly making the rounds. The other story that is constantly told is about Japan's ageing society, while very few stories are published about South Korea's situation (ageing more rapidly even if Japan has the lead) or the demographic situation in various eastern & southern European countries. And the BBC is particularly guilty here. It produces generally very lazy foreign reporting.
- Smithalicious 7y agoExactly, Japan's fertility rate is higher than Italy, Spain and Greece, at a comparable level to Germany. It is on the low end of things, but it's not really an outlier when compared to many other first world nations.