The Death (and Revival) of the Fax Machine
The original purpose of the fax machine was relatively straightforward – to send copies of documents from one person to another through telephone wires. When all was said and done, the fax machine served its original purpose rather well. Today, the fax machine is starting to go the way of the Atari or the dial-up modem.

The Truth about Emailed Signatures
Due to Internet gossip, general paranoia, or plain old misinformation, many people are under the impression that a faxed signature is the only type of signature that is legally binding. The fact is that this assumption is simply not true.
The United States Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act in June of 2000 in order to make electronic signatures legal. This act states that nearly all kinds of transactions are legally binding based upon a simple electronic signature (this is why it’s so very easy to make impulse buys online with a credit card).

The Future of the Fax Machine
By using an email-to-fax program, a person can attach a scanned document to an email, send the email to another person’s fax machine, and wait as technology magic happens – the document is printed on the receiver’s end within a matter of minutes.

There are many different email-to-fax programs on the Internet, and most of them charge a minimal fee for this type of service. If a signature is required, the person sending out a fax can electronically sign a document prior to sending it.

Alternately, a document can simply be signed electronically, and then sent back to the original sender via email. Once the recipient receives the signed document, this document can then be stored on a computer or printed in order to provide a person with a physical copy of the document.

Both of these methods work rather well, and both of these methods are increasingly becoming the best way to send and receive signed documents. While the fax machine was once an important part of the business world, there’s really no need to wait around for a fax to arrive ever again (unless, of course, you want an excuse to take an extra long lunch break!).