Scottish inventor Alexander Bain worked on chemical-mechanical fax-type devices and in 1846 was able to reproduce graphic signs in laboratory experiments. He received British patent 9745 on May 27, 1843, for his “Electric Printing Telegraph”.
In 1880, English inventor Shelford Bidwell constructed the scanning phototelegraph that was the first telefax machine to scan any two-dimensional original, not requiring manual plotting or drawing.
Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device. The original document is scanned with a fax machine (or a telecopier), which processes the contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap, and then transmitting it through the telephone system in the form of audio-frequency tones. The receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the image, printing a paper copy. Early systems used direct conversions of image darkness to audio tone in a continuous or analog manner. Since the 1980s, most machines transmit an audio-encoded digital representation of the page, using data compression to more quickly transmit areas that are all-white or all-black.
Or you can just read it directly. Just need some light.
It’s actually better than plain text stored on a Hard Drive/ CD/ Floppy et c., which requires corresponding reading devices, format parsing systems, a display to show it and an appropriate power source, after which you can consider using a human to use the data (or remove the monitor and convert data into other data, in which case, you need another output device/network).
In principle none of that data should leave the phone line. Dunno whether carriers encrypt VoIP but in any case it shouldn’t leak into the internet. Back in the days it was considered secure because in practice it’s indeed similarly secure as a letter: In organisational terms, yes, in computer science terms, hell no.
Yes, but can I still submit using a fax machine?
Sure, that’s never going. Why would we want to lose our technological connection to Abraham Lincoln and samurai?
I love that this is literally accurate.
Had to go check, damn.
Christ!
— Wikipedia
What samurai?
Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device. The original document is scanned with a fax machine (or a telecopier), which processes the contents (text or images) as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap, and then transmitting it through the telephone system in the form of audio-frequency tones. The receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the image, printing a paper copy. Early systems used direct conversions of image darkness to audio tone in a continuous or analog manner. Since the 1980s, most machines transmit an audio-encoded digital representation of the page, using data compression to more quickly transmit areas that are all-white or all-black.
to opt out, pm me ‘optout’. article | about
Healthcare worker, chiming in:
Yes please.
Ah yes, just how sensitive information should be sent. In clear text over the internet.
It’s not in clear text, you have to use a decent OCR
Or you can just read it directly. Just need some light.
It’s actually better than plain text stored on a Hard Drive/ CD/ Floppy et c., which requires corresponding reading devices, format parsing systems, a display to show it and an appropriate power source, after which you can consider using a human to use the data (or remove the monitor and convert data into other data, in which case, you need another output device/network).
Needing a human in the loop kills automation.
I’d rather not automate convicting random people.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/22/google-csam-account-blocked
Besides, what I said earlier would be more of a concern for preservation of information in case of civilisation level disasters.
No, we’re automating HIPAA violations for nefarious purposes. Do try to keep up.
You can encrypt emails, we’ve been doing it for decades. It’s easier to compromise faxes than encrypted emails
The message I was responding to uses fax.
In principle none of that data should leave the phone line. Dunno whether carriers encrypt VoIP but in any case it shouldn’t leak into the internet. Back in the days it was considered secure because in practice it’s indeed similarly secure as a letter: In organisational terms, yes, in computer science terms, hell no.
What year is this, 2015?
Who’s Fred? Also, perhaps related, what’s kerning?
No, only on paper with hanko stamp that you left at home.