I am an IT technician/programmer and have wondered for the last five years or so why fax machines are still in use. In college I wrote a paper describing communication mediums used in business and while reading through my sources read a book published back in 1996. In the chapter titled "Electronic Mail" the author describes how communication between companies, departments, buyers and sellers can be accomplished in a matter of seconds through a point and click interface, whereas before documents needed to be mailed USPS or sent via fax. The fax machine gained popularity back in the mid 80's peaking in the early and mid 90's. After Microsoft released windows and internet companies began to supply the demand for internet access, e-mail became the most widely used medium for digital content. Pictures, videos, copies, documents and scans of any type can be can be sent and received from anywhere in the world using e-mail. This is the year 2009! I am annoyed every time a company or business has you fax something to them. The company having you do this has an e-mail account and if not they're a very, very small business and should consider getting one; there's 100's of free ones. A fax machine requires a separate phone line which costs money and is an unnecessary waste. Having a person fax something requires them to have access to this antiquated hunk or junk we call a fax machine. Normally you have to drive across town to a Kinkos or some copy store and have to pay usually over $1.00 per page just to send the fax. Almost every time I've tried to send a fax the number was busy so I had to wait at least 15min for the line to clear up. All e-mail providers support encryption such as SSL and TLS, which are industry standards now. These levels of encryption surpass the requirements set by the Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA mandates dealing with the transmission of sensitive material. What this means is fax machines are good for antique shops and recycling bins and are not practical for present day use. A company I used to work for actually designated an e-mail account to handle incoming faxes so that every fax was received as an e-mail attachment. This company has no fax machine and never will because they use e-mail. The only reason fax machines are still around are because it is the only electronic form of transmission admissible as evidence in court...Why? It's out of ignorance of the technology. Contact your local government officials, Information Technology departments and legislators and encourage the use of e-mail to help stop the use of the fax machine for good. Ensure them that the use of email as a replacement for fax is a great way for them to be more "green" and will cut down on paper waste, ink and toner, electricity and will save time and money. NO MORE FAX MACHINES
