Fax: Technology That Refuses to Die Under Attack

securitas writes "The BBC Magazine's Paul Rubens reports on the ever-growing popularity of the fax machine, despite the widespread availability of e-mail and digital document/photo scanners. Why is fax still so popular? Partly because it is a mature technology that has legal weight and because of the emergence of Internet and Web e-mail-to-fax and fax-to-e-mail gateways, not to mention the relative lack of spam faxes. But that is changing. The New York Times Technology's Lisa Napoli reports that Infoseek founder Steve Kirsch is waging a battle against purveyors of illegal junk faxes (IHT) like Fax.com, which Kirsch has sued for $2.2 trillion, detailed at junkfax.org. Also joining the fight are lawyer and Telephone Consumer Protection Act co-author Gerard Waldron - he won $2.25 million from Fax.com. Finally consumer advocate Robert Braver's junkfaxes.org has 36 lawsuits pending against the junk fax industry. More evidence that spammers are among the lowest forms of life on Earth."

Comments

A HA!

[Judg3]

So that's where Peewee Herman ended up, working for the BBC.
Let's hope he doesn't any movie reviews!

AHAAA!!

[miracle69]

1) Buy Fax Machine
2) Wait for Unsolicited Faxes
3) PROFIT!!!

Email2Fax

[Lars T.]

My dad got the Melissa virus faxed to him at work via a Email2Fax gateway. Over ten pages of VBScript printed out. He also got the first Nigerian Scam I saw via fax.

Re:Email2Fax

[Lord Kano]

Did he save it?

I'm sure that it would have brought in a pretty penny on ebay.

LK

Re:Email2Fax

[cuban321]

A while back I received the SirCam virus via text message to my cellphone.

Hi! How are you?
I send you this file in order to have your advice
See you later. Thanks

Daniel

Fax has its limits..

[Handpaper]

see here

Fax is not easy, apparently

[molafson]

I used to work in a small office. As a consequence of the work we did, we had to send out a specifications sheet several times a week. Now, every single time either my boss, her assistant, or the receptionist tried to fax this document they'd always screw it up. No matter how many times I showed them, they'd always screw it up. Eventually I got so pissed at having to stop my work to help them with the fax machine, I decided to save our specs to a PDF which thereafter they could email. Things proceeded a lot more smoothly after that. (Except when we updated our specs, but the receptionist kept sending out the old file for weeks... God, I hated that job.)

Fax Revenge

[rf0]

If you ever want to get revenge on a spammer and they have a 1-800 number just get yourself the following

A piece of blackpaper
Sellotape

Place the blackpaper into the fax machine and sellotape to make a tube.

Enter the number and hit send

All the other end will receieve it page after page of black printout. It might be an urban legend but apparently there was one type of fax machine that would overheat and catch fire if this was done to it

Rus

Here is why fax won't die

[EmagGeek]

Using a PC to Fax:

Step 1: Lift cover of scanner and insert document face down with the letterhead toward the hinge of the cover

Step 2: Import the document into $MS_PRODUCT

Step 3: Select File -> Print

Step 4: Select the "Fax" Printer

Step 5: Press Print, enter Fax Number when Prompted, then click OK

Troubleshooting: If document fails to scan, follow the "Scanner Troubleshooting" section of your 2000 page user manual. If document fails to fax, follow the "Microsoft Printer Subsystem" troubleshooting section of your 2000 page user manual. If neither works, contact a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer at a cost of $100/hr.

Using a Fax machine:

Step 1: Insert Document Face Down
Step 2: Dial Number
Step 3: Hit "Send"