My face parties with a fig, not a fax.

[sistawendy]

I felt the need for a user pic to use when one of you freaks posts something too weird even for me, which is pretty often. Photo credit: grace_batmonkey

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I resolved my weekly dilemma: I'll be going to the Space Virgins' Casino Royale party. It was a pity to miss Eddie at Re-bar last night, but apparently I needed the sleep.

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Yet another indication of the severity of last winter: the Abbey's Turkish fig tree was covered in dead, molding figs. I removed them in the hopes that I'll get ripe ones this year. The wind chimes are up, the barbie is out, and some laundry is on the deck. Ah, spring.

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Why do bankers still have to use fax machines? There's a technology that's begging to be replaced.

Comments

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

People have been telling me fax machines are begging to be replaced for at least 15 years, but I defy you to show me any method of sending a paper document or a signature to another location in real time that's a fifth as easy to use or convenient.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

There's got to be a way to send a signature (or other credential) that can't involve paper jams.

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

Millions of ways. And they all suck.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Pulling a possible explanation out of my ass, Banking is a heavily regulated industry. It's possible that the federal government has rules that require adhering to FAXing, having not been updated to reflect newer technology.
Hell, look at how long it took to get the regulations updated to allow electronic images of checks to be used as 'the check' for money transfer purposes. 9/11/2001, airplanes are grounded for days, and the banking industry comes to a SCREECHING HALT.

[lilithvf1998.livejournal.com]

When email is secure, I think you'll finally see faxes disappear in the banking world. Not one day before, though.

And before you argue: Yes, yes, PGP and all that. It's not the same thing, and you know it. Email by default is unsecure and easy to hack. Faxes aren't secure either but it's harder to tap undetected into a fax line than it is to intercept incoming SMTP traffic.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I wonder what level of transport layer security would be good enough for the government. If 128-bit RSA is good enough for businesses to handle credit card numbers, signatures shouldn't be that much harder.

[lilithvf1998.livejournal.com]

It has less to do with government regulations--which are largely nonexistent here--and with a hypersensitive banking industry that doesn't want government regulations. :)