There’s really no better way to start a joke about the state of digitization in Germany: “The Federal Network Agency is looking for a fax service provider”. That reports that Online magazine t3n and refers to the mockery and malice that the Federal Network Agency is now collecting for this tender on the Internet.
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Instead of digitization with modern communication channels, the authority is still relying on “fax” this year – a technology that can at least celebrate its 57th birthday this year – depending on how the history of the underlying invention is interpreted. In 1966 the US manufacturer Xerox brought the “Magnafax Telecopier” onto the market and thus started the wide availability of the technology. This start is widely regarded as the birth of the fax.
Several thousand faxes every month
If you want to take a look at the tender: There are currently two different links to the Tenders for fax service providers on the website of the Federal Network Agency. The authority expects 3 to 4,000 incoming and outgoing fax pages per month and is looking for a provider who will take over the service for at least twelve and at most 60 months from April 1st. That might sound like an April Fool’s joke, but it’s not.
Fax not without problems
Incidentally, faxes are not entirely unproblematic. In 2021, the State Commissioner for Data Protection in Bremen determined that the fax does not comply with data protection and is therefore not suitable for the transmission of personal data.
- Federal Network Agency is looking for fax service providers, applications until April 1, 2023.
- Fax services for a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 60 months.
- Fax technology already 57 years old, but still in use.
- Faxes not compliant with data protection, not suitable for personal data.
- Mockery and malice on the net about the tender.
- Calculates between 3 and 4000 fax pages per month.
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