Editing Fax (section)

== History ==
=== Wire transmission ===
{{see also|Wirephoto}}

Scottish inventor [[Alexander Bain (inventor)|Alexander Bain]] worked on chemical-mechanical fax-type devices and in 1846 Bain was able to reproduce graphic signs in laboratory experiments. He received British patent 9745 on May 27, 1843, for his "Electric Printing Telegraph".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=(Staff) |title=Mr. Bain's electric printing telegraph |journal=Mechanics' Magazine |date=20 April 1844 |volume=40 |issue=1080 |pages=268–270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=whEFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA268}}</ref><ref>Bain, Alexander [https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00005957 "Improvement in copying surfaces by electricity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514193846/https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00005957 |date=2021-05-14 }} U.S. patent no. 5,957 (5 December 1848).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ruddock |first1=Ivan S. |title=Alexander Bain: The real father of television? |journal=Scottish Local History |date=Summer 2012 |issue=83 |pages=3–13 |url=https://www.slhf.org/sites/default/files/publications/slhf12_alexanderbain.pdf}}</ref> [[Frederick Bakewell]] made several improvements on Bain's design and demonstrated a telefax machine.<ref>Bakewell, Frederick Collier [https://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/Bakewell-12352.pdf "Electric telegraphs"]  English patent no. 12,352 (filed:  2 December 1848; issued:  2 June 1849).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bakewell |first1=F.C. |title=On the copying telegraph |journal=American Journal of Science |date=November 1851 |volume=12 |page=278 |url=https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002152392/page/278/mode/2up |series=2nd series}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1851_Great_Exhibition:_Official_Catalogue:_Class_X.:_Frederick_Collier_Bakewell| title = 1851 Great Exhibition: Official Catalogue: Class X.: Frederick Collier Bakewell}}</ref> The [[Pantelegraph]] was invented by the Italian physicist [[Giovanni Caselli]].<ref>Caselli, Giovanni [https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00020698 "Improved pantographic telegraph"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514184535/https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=00020698 |date=2021-05-14 }} U.S. patent no. 20,698 (June 29, 1858).</ref> He introduced the first commercial telefax service between Paris and Lyon in 1865, some 11 years before the invention of the [[telephone]].<ref name="italianunivbio">{{cite web |url=http://www.itisgalileiroma.it/shed/shed0/shed0/caselli.htm |title=Istituto Tecnico Industriale, Italy. Italian biography of Giovanni Caselli |publisher=Itisgalileiroma.it |access-date=2014-02-16 |archive-date=2020-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817223601/http://www.itisgalileiroma.it/shed/shed0/shed0/caselli.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="hebrewuniversity">{{Cite web|url=http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/caselli.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506061432/http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/caselli.html |url-status=dead |title=The Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Giovanni Caselli biography|archive-date=May 6, 2008}}</ref>

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.<ref>See:
* {{cite journal |last1=Bidwell |first1=Shelford |title=The photophone |journal=Nature |date=November 18, 1880 |volume=23 |issue=577 |pages=58–59 |doi=10.1038/023058a0 |bibcode=1880Natur..23...58B |s2cid=4127035 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012106640&view=1up&seq=84|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bidwell |first1=Shelford |title=Tele-photography |journal=Nature |date=February 10, 1881 |volume=23 |issue=589 |pages=344–346 |doi=10.1038/023344a0 |bibcode=1881Natur..23..344B |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012106640&view=1up&seq=374|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=(Staff) |title=Tele-photography |journal=Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review |date=March 1, 1881 |volume=9 |pages=82–84 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=msu.31293007807963&view=1up&seq=144}}</ref> An account of [[Henry Sutton (inventor)#Facsimile|Henry Sutton's "telephane"]] was published in 1896. Around 1900, German physicist [[Arthur Korn]] invented the ''[[Wirephoto|Bildtelegraph]]'', widespread in continental Europe especially following a widely noticed transmission of a wanted-person photograph from Paris to London in 1908,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Korn |first1=Arthur |title=Die Bildtelegraphie im Dienste der Polizei |trans-title=Tele-photography in service to the police |date=1927 |publisher=Ulrich Mosers Buchhandlung |location=Graz, Austria |language=German}}</ref> used until the wider distribution of the radiofax.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Korn |first1=Arthur |title=Elektrisches Fernphotograhie und Ähnliches |trans-title=Electrical transmission of images and similar [systems] |date=1907 |edition=2nd |publisher=S. Hirzel |location=Leipzig, Germany |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAUjmgEACAAJ&pg=PA1 |language=German}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Korn |first1=Arthur |title=Elektrische Fernphotographie |journal=Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift |date=14 December 1905 |volume=26 |issue=50 |pages=1131–1134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IhNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1131 |trans-title=Electrical tele-photography |language=German}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Korn |first1=A. |title=Uber Gebe- und Empfangsapparate zur elektrischen Fernubertragung von Photographien |journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift |date=1904 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=113–118 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101054770829&view=1up&seq=141 |trans-title=On transmitting and receiving apparatuses for the electrical transmission of photographs |language=German}}</ref> Its main competitors were the ''Bélinographe'' by [[Édouard Belin]] first, then since the 1930s the ''[[Hellschreiber]]'', invented in 1929 by German inventor [[Rudolf Hell]], a pioneer in mechanical image scanning and transmission.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edouard Belin - Belinograph Inventor |url=https://faxauthority.com/biographies/edouard-belin/ |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=Fax Authority |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:PSM V44 D062 Sample work of telautograph.jpg|thumb|Input (left) and output (right) of a telautograph transmission]]
The 1888 invention of the [[telautograph]] by [[Elisha Gray]] marked a further development in fax technology by making it possible for users to send signatures over long distances. This was used for verifying identification or ownership over long distances.<ref>Gray, Elisha [https://patents.google.com/patent/US386814A/en "Art of telegraphy"] U.S. patent no. 386,814 (filed: May 31, 1888; issued: July 31, 1888).</ref><ref>Gray, Elisha [https://patents.google.com/patent/US386815A/en "Telautography"] U.S. patent no. 386,815 (filed: June 13, 1888; issued: July 31, 1888).</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://faxauthority.com/fax-history/|title=The History of Fax – from 1843 to Present Day |publisher=Fax Authority|access-date=25 July 2012}}</ref>

On May 19, 1924, scientists of the AT&T Corporation "by a new process of transmitting pictures by electricity" sent 15 photographs by telephone from Cleveland to New York City, such photos being suitable for newspaper reproduction. Previously, photographs had been sent over the radio using this process.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=Fr8DH2VBP9sC&dat=19240520&printsec=frontpage&hl=en "Photos Sent Over Telephone Wire by Cleveland to N.Y.", ''The Gazette'' (Montreal), May 20, 1924, p.10]</ref>

The Western Union "Deskfax" fax machine, announced in 1948, was a compact machine that fit comfortably on a desktop, using special [[spark printer]] paper.<ref name=Ridings1949>G. H. Ridings, [http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/03-1/p017.htm A Facsimile transceiver for Pickup and Delivery of Telegrams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208135530/http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/03-1/p017.htm |date=2016-02-08 }}, [http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/03-1/readpg.htm Western Union Technical Review, Vol. 3, No, 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310144615/http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/03-1/readpg.htm |date=2016-03-10 }} (January 1949); page 17-26.</ref>

=== Wireless transmission ===
{{Main|Radiofax}}
[[File:Krant per fax - Faxed newspaper (4193509648).jpg | upright=1.2|thumb | right | Children read a wirelessly transmitted newspaper in 1938.]] 
As a designer for the [[Radio Corporation of America]] (RCA), in 1924, [[Richard H. Ranger]] invented the wireless photoradiogram, or transoceanic [[radiofax|radio facsimile]], the forerunner of today's "fax" machines. A photograph of President [[Calvin Coolidge]] sent from New York to London on November 29, 1924, became the first photo picture reproduced by transoceanic radio facsimile. Commercial use of Ranger's product began two years later. Also in 1924, [[Herbert E. Ives]] of [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]] transmitted and reconstructed the first color facsimile, a natural-color photograph of silent film star [[Rudolph Valentino]] in period costume, using red, green and blue color separations.<ref name="Sipley">Sipley, Louis Walton (1951). ''A Half Century of Color''. Macmillan.</ref>

Beginning in the late 1930s, the Finch Facsimile system was used to transmit a "radio newspaper" to private homes via commercial AM radio stations and ordinary radio receivers equipped with Finch's printer, which used thermal paper. Sensing a new and potentially golden opportunity, competitors soon entered the field, but the printer and special paper were expensive luxuries, AM radio transmission was very slow and vulnerable to static, and the newspaper was too small. After more than ten years of repeated attempts by Finch and others to establish such a service as a viable business, the public, apparently quite content with its cheaper and much more substantial home-delivered daily newspapers, and with conventional spoken radio bulletins to provide any "hot" news, still showed only a passing curiosity about the new medium.<ref name="Schneider">Schneider, John (2011). [http://www.theradiohistorian.org/Radiofax/newspaper_of_the_air1.htm "The Newspaper of the Air: Early Experiments with Radio Facsimile"]. theradiohistorian.org. Retrieved 2017-05-15.</ref>

By the late 1940s, radiofax receivers were sufficiently miniaturized to be fitted beneath the dashboard of [[Western Union]]'s "Telecar" [[telegram]] delivery vehicles.<ref name=Ridings1949 />

In the 1960s, the [[United States Army]] transmitted the first photograph via satellite [[facsimile]] to [[Puerto Rico]] from the [[Deal Test Site]] using the [[Courier 1B|Courier satellite]].

Radio fax is still in limited use today for transmitting weather charts and information to ships at sea. The closely related technology of [[slow-scan television]] is still used by [[amateur radio]] operators.

=== Telephone transmission ===

{{External media|image1=[http://digitalprinting.blogs.xerox.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/08/Xerox-LDX-Image.jpg LDX system, Scanner and Printer]|image2=[https://biztechmagazine.com/sites/default/files/Q0416-BT-TOT-Xerox-What.jpg Magnafax Telecopier by Xerox]}}
In 1964, Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance Xerography.  This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would set the standard for fax machines for years to come.  Up until this point facsimile machines were very expensive and hard to operate. In 1966, Xerox released the Magnafax Telecopiers, a smaller, {{cvt|46|lb}} facsimile machine.  This unit was far easier to operate and could be connected to any standard telephone line.  This machine was capable of transmitting a letter-sized document in about six minutes. The first sub-minute, digital fax machine was developed by [[Dacom]], which built on digital data compression technology originally developed at [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] for satellite communication.<ref name="etd.ohiolink.edu">[https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/ohiou1183661772/inline ''The implementation of a personal computer-based digital facsimile information distribution system''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231649/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/rws_etd/document/get/ohiou1183661772/inline |date=2016-03-03 }} – Edward C. Chung, [[Ohio University]], November 1991, page 2</ref><ref name="Fax 1971, Pages 112-114">''Fax: The Principles and Practice of Facsimile Communication'', Daniel M. Costigan, Chilton Book Company, 1971, pages 112–114, 213, 239</ref>

Analog facsimile machines worked by optical scanning of a document or drawing spinning on a drum. The reflected light, varying in intensity according to the light and dark areas of the document, was focused on a [[photocell]] so that the current in a circuit varied with the amount of light. This current was used to control a tone generator (a [[modulator]]), the current determining the frequency of the tone produced. This audio tone was then transmitted using an [[acoustic coupler]] (a speaker, in this case) attached to the microphone of a common [[Handset|telephone handset]]. At the receiving end, a handset's speaker was attached to an acoustic coupler (a microphone), and a [[fax demodulator|demodulator]] converted the varying tone into a variable current that controlled the mechanical movement of a pen or pencil to reproduce the image on a blank sheet of paper on an identical drum rotating at the same rate.

=== Digital transmission and height of popularity ===
By the late 1970s, many companies around the world (especially Japanese firms) had entered the fax market, and prices for long-distance faxing in 1978 were significantly lower than they had been in 1968, both at high and low speeds. Faxes had become useful to large newspapers and multinational corporations, and some digital methods were being developed. However, the rise of the market was fairly slow. Individual manufacturers had purposefully developed incompatible transmission methods in order to prevent their customers from buying from competitors.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coopersmith |first1=Jonathan |title=Faxed: the rise and fall of the fax machine |date=2016 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=1421421232 |pages=140-144 |url=https://archive.org/details/faxedrisefalloff0000coop}}</ref> The CCITT (later [[ITU-T]]) Recommendation T.3, defining group 2 fax machines, was the first to offer interoperability in 1976, with a speed of three minutes per page.<ref name="huurdeman"/> 

In 1980, the CCITT's Recommendation T.4 promised groundbreaking interoperability for digital fax machines, with transmission times of just 40 seconds per page.<ref name="huurdeman"/> Accompanying this, a new wave of more compact, faster and efficient fax machines hit the market, leading to two decades of ubiquitous faxing in business contexts. Xerox continued to refine the fax machine for years after their ground-breaking first machine. In later years it would be combined with copier equipment to create the hybrid machines we have today that copy, scan and fax.  Some of the lesser known capabilities of the Xerox fax technologies included their Ethernet enabled Fax Services on their 8000 workstations in the early 1980s.

In 1985, [[Hank Magnuski]], founder of [[GammaLink]], produced the first computer fax board, called [[GammaFax]]. Such boards could provide voice telephony via [[Analog Expansion Bus]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Perratore |first=Ed |date=September 1992| title= GammaFax MLCP-4/AEB: High-End Fax, Long-Range Potential|magazine=Byte|publisher=McGraw-Hill|issn=0360-5280| volume=17| number=9| pages=82, 84}}</ref>

===In the 21st century===
[[Image:Laserfax.JPG|thumb|Laser fax having a compact, built-in [[laser printer]], 2001.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://download.brother.com/welcome/doc000215/FAX8070_GR_UG_0.pdf| title = Manual of fax machine Brother 8070, see 3rd page}}</ref>]]
Although businesses usually maintain some kind of fax capability, the technology has faced increasing competition from [[Internet]]-based alternatives. In some countries, such as Germany, because [[electronic signature]]s on contracts are not yet [[Electronic signature#Enforceability|recognized by law]], while faxed contracts with copies of signatures are, fax machines enjoy continuing support in business.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.adamsdrafting.com/2007/11/07/fax-and-scanned-signatures/ |title=Enforceability of Fax and Scanned Signature Pages|last=Adams| first=Ken| date=7 November 2007|publisher=AdamsDrafting|access-date=25 July 2012}}</ref>  In [[Japan]], faxes are still used extensively as of September 2020 for cultural and {{Clarify|reason=|date=May 2024|text=[[wiktionary:grapheme|graphemic]] reasons.}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Michael |title=Why is hi-tech Japan using cassette tapes and faxes? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34667380 |work=BBC News |access-date=6 October 2020 |date=3 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Fackler |first1=Martin |title=In High-Tech Japan, the Fax Machines Roll On (Published 2013) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fax-machine-is-anything-but-a-relic.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=6 October 2020 |date=13 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Low-tech Japan challenged in working from home amid pandemic |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200426/p2g/00m/0na/040000c |website=Mainichi Daily News |publisher=The Mainichi |access-date=6 October 2020 |language=en |date=26 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Osaki |first1=Tomohiro |title=Taro Kono, Japan's administrative reform minister, declares war on faxes |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/09/27/national/japan-taro-kono-fax-machine-hanko/ |publisher=The Japan Times |access-date=6 October 2020 |date=27 September 2020}}</ref> They are available for sending to both domestic and international recipients from over 81% of all [[convenience stores]] nationwide. Convenience-store fax machines commonly print the slightly re-sized content of the sent fax in the electronic confirmation-slip, in [[A4 paper]] size.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lawson.co.jp/service/counter/fax.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210112224/http://www.lawson.co.jp/service/counter/fax.html |archive-date=2015-02-10 |title=FAXサービス｜サービス｜ローソン |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Fackler|first=Martin|title=In High-Tech Japan, the Fax Machines Roll On| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fax-machine-is-anything-but-a-relic.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=world|access-date=14 February 2013|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=13 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Oi |first=Mariko |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19045837 |title=Japan and the fax: A love affair |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=2012-07-31 |access-date=2014-02-16}}</ref> Use of fax machines for reporting cases during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] has been criticised in Japan for introducing data errors and delays in reporting, slowing response efforts to contain the spread of infections and hindering the transition to [[remote work]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Osborne |first1=Samuel |title=Japan's reliance on fax machines lambasted by coronavirus doctor |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-japan-fax-machine-online-hanko-a9501906.html |work=The Independent |access-date=6 October 2020 |language=en |date=6 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Takahashi |first1=Ryusei |title=Tokyo test centers trade fax machines for computers with new coronavirus reporting system |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/04/national/tokyo-coronavirus-testing-faxes/ |publisher=The Japan Times |access-date=6 October 2020 |date=4 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Online criticism of outdated paper-and-fax coronavirus infection reports spark change in Japan |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200502/p2a/00m/0na/022000c |website=Mainichi Daily News |publisher=The Mainichi |access-date=6 October 2020 |language=en |date=2 May 2020}}</ref>

In many corporate environments, freestanding fax machines have been replaced by [[fax server]]s and other computerized systems capable of receiving and storing incoming faxes electronically, and then routing them to users on paper or via an [[email]] (which may be secured).<ref>{{cite news|last=Coopersmith|first=Jonathan|date=16 June 2021|title=Faxing is old tech. So why is it also growing in popularity?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/faxing-is-old-tech-so-why-is-it-also-growing-in-popularity/2019/03/08/d01c638a-2f0b-11e9-86ab-5d02109aeb01_story.html|url-status=live|newspaper=Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526102333/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/faxing-is-old-tech-so-why-is-it-also-growing-in-popularity/2019/03/08/d01c638a-2f0b-11e9-86ab-5d02109aeb01_story.html|archive-date=May 26, 2023}}</ref> Such systems have the advantage of reducing costs by eliminating unnecessary printouts and reducing the number of inbound analog phone lines needed by an office.

[[Image:Canon Laser Class 710 fax machine.JPG|thumb|left|Professional laser fax machine for office use with the Super G3 standard for faster transmission.]]

The once ubiquitous fax machine has also begun to disappear from the small office and home office environments.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}} Remotely hosted fax-server services are widely available from VoIP and e-mail providers. Users can send and receive faxes using them with their existing e-mail accounts instead of dedicated hardware and fax lines. Personal computers have also long been able to handle incoming and outgoing faxes using analog modems or [[Integrated Services Digital Network|ISDN]]. These solutions are often ideally suited for users who only very occasionally need to use fax services.  In July 2017 the United Kingdom's [[National Health Service]] was said to be the world's largest purchaser of fax machines because the digital revolution has largely bypassed it.<ref>{{cite news|title=Digital doldrums: NHS remains world's largest purchaser of fax machines|url=http://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/Health-Care-News/digital-doldrums-nhs-remains-worlds-largest-purchaser-of-fax-machines|access-date=1 March 2018|publisher=National Health Executive|date=5 July 2017}}</ref>  In June 2018 the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] said that the NHS had at least 11,620 fax machines in operation<ref>{{cite news |title=NHS 'Struggling To Keep Up' As It Holds On To Thousands Of Fax Machines |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/nhs-fax-machines-labour_uk_5b1e5f83e4b09d7a3d7508e7 |access-date=11 June 2018 |work=Huffington Post |date=11 June 2018}}</ref> and in December the [[Department of Health and Social Care]] said that no more fax machines could be bought from 2019 and that the existing ones must be replaced by secure email by March 31, 2020.<ref>{{cite news |title=NHS told to ditch 'absurd' fax machines |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46497526 |access-date=9 December 2018 |work=BBC |date=9 December 2018}}</ref>

[[Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust]], generally viewed as digitally advanced in the NHS, was engaged in a process of removing its fax machines in early 2019.  This involved quite a lot of [[e-fax]] solutions because of the need to communicate with pharmacies and nursing homes which may not have access to the NHS email system and may need something in their paper records.<ref>{{cite news |title=OK, it's early 2019. Has Leeds Hospital finally managed to 'axe the fax'? Um, yes and no |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/04/leeds_hospital_nhs_trust_efax/ |access-date=5 February 2019 |work=[[The Register]] |date=4 February 2019 |first=Rebecca |last=Hill}}</ref>

In 2018 two-thirds of Canadian doctors reported that they primarily used fax machines to communicate with other doctors. Faxes are still seen as safer and more secure and electronic systems are often unable to communicate with each other.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why are fax machines still the norm in 21st-century health care? |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-why-are-fax-machines-still-the-norm-in-21st-century-health-care/ |access-date=21 April 2019 |newspaper=Globe and Mail |date=11 June 2018}}</ref>

Hospitals are the leading users for fax machines in the United States where some doctors prefer fax machines over emails, often due to concerns about accidentally violating [[HIPAA]].<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |title=The Fax Is Not Yet Obsolete |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/why-people-still-use-fax-machines/576070/ |access-date=30 January 2023 |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118233042/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/why-people-still-use-fax-machines/576070/ |archive-date=2018-11-18 |first=Sophie |last=Haigney}}</ref>