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Question to the people in fax countries: are your fax machines still connected to a POTS line, or has the word come to mean a glorified "scanner that automatica
by gspr 6y ago
Question to the people in fax countries: are your fax machines still connected to a POTS line, or has the word come to mean a glorified "scanner that automatically emails at the push of a button"?
- frosted-flakes 6y agoI believe that in the USA fax is legally considered "secure" and doesn't violate HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy laws, but email does. So yes, I think it's an actual fax machine in those cases.
- microcolonel 6y agoPart of the reasoning behind this is, I think, that there are severe criminal penalties for private persons and organizations snooping on phone lines and exchanges. For similar reasons, USPS is considered secure (there is a high grade federal police service for the postal service, and tampering with mail is a felony).
- gspr 6y ago> For similar reasons, USPS is considered secure (there is a high grade federal police service for the postal service, and tampering with mail is a felony). I wonder how quickly the cost of the boots-on-the-ground-based security system would pay for a robust electronic infrastructure to replace it.
- gspr 6y agoInteresting. Do you know if there are rules regarding the POTS line the fax machine is connected to? Surely there are rural areas where the POTS network is just sort of "emulated" by internet connections to the rest of the country/world?
- frosted-flakes 6y agoPOTS* and electricity are two utilities that are everywhere in the US, including in rural areas. From an end-user's perspective, it's POTS. I'm sure the telephone company runs the signal over digital lines in some areas, but that's irrelevant to the people using it. * Plain Old Telephone Service