# We don't accept emails - not secure - please fax? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 11, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417 "2015-02-11T20:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/41 "2015-02-23T18:34:50Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Sending something sensitive over email is like sending something private via a postcard back in the snail mail days. Not if it’s encrypted. And if encryption is too much for some to handle, fine; let some people send encrypted email and the rest send snail mail, and break everyone of the idea that faxes are somehow secure. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/42 "2015-02-23T18:41:03Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Imagine if the government got its hands on my tax returns, for instance. > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Please tell me I’m being whooshed. I’m not **Tom** , but I’m sure he meant that humorously. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/43 "2015-02-23T18:50:47Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > True, but that’s not the security we’re talking about. > > Faxes are insecure because I can send a fax which claims to come from you and nobody has a real way to verify that. Caller ID can be spoofed, signatures can be either not required or copied off of a scanned document, and… that’s it. That’s seriously it. There is no way to cryptographically sign a fax, or at least no way anyone else knows how to interpret. > > **And this is obviously the kind of security we’re talking about.** The threat model of “someone sent a bogus fax in my name” is just blazingly, obviously more important than anything else in this context. Huh. I thought the context was, you’ve been talking on the phone with the person you might be exchanging faxes with. It’s always possible - astoundingly unlikely, but possible - that you get a bogus fax from someone else, at just the right time, that mimics the one you were expecting, but then the real one will show up minutes later. Call back and find out which one was real. Seems secure to me. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/44 "2015-02-24T20:59:44Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Wrong. The government considers physical mail and facsimile transmissions to be secure and email to be insecure. So what is more secure than email but less secure than physical mail? Or are you using some industry definition of secure that applies only to electronic data transmission? My point is that the prohibition against using email seems stupid considering that the government thinks that the mailbox on my curb is secure. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/45 "2015-02-24T21:17:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Not if it’s encrypted. And if encryption is too much for some to handle, fine; let some people send encrypted email and the rest send snail mail, and break everyone of the idea that faxes are somehow secure. Encryption is too much for to ask from the government. I think they use bingo cards to provide security for electronic communication with the public in some cases. You either convince them that email is sat least as secure as fax transmissions or you live without email. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/46 "2015-02-24T21:19:32Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Huh. I thought the context was, you’ve been talking on the phone with the person you might be exchanging faxes with. > > It’s always possible - astoundingly unlikely, but possible - that you get a bogus fax from someone else, at just the right time, that mimics the one you were expecting, but then the real one will show up minutes later. Call back and find out which one was real. Seems secure to me. I think the focus of the security is that the information doesn’t get into the wrong hands. Can you intercept the information in a fax transmission or physical mail as easily as you can intercept the information in an email? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/47 "2015-02-25T23:00:24Z")
Am I missing something? This is a form, right? Forms are devoid of information, and standardized. I get why you might not be able to accept a filled form over an insecure protocol, but why would you not be able to send it that way? Heck, I’ve very often gotten government forms from insecure websites. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417/48 "2015-02-25T23:14:03Z")
Some government workers have explained it to me. They are afraid of viruses and that thing that none of them seem to remember the name (turns out it is “malware”). They are afraid that if you send them email or if they send it to you, somehow, a virus will infect their office and they will get some kind of computer disease and they all will die. I’ve always thought that sounded like a wonderful idea. But they don’t seem to know enough to make that happen. Poor babies. I wonder if any of you could read one of my emails and catch a deadly virus in that way? I don’t think so. But, you just never know with the state of the Internet these days. So … I suggest you be careful. That’s all. Just be careful! Oops! I might have just caught something. Is there a doctor in the house? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-accept-emails-not-secure-please-fax/712417.md?page=2)