BPPE: Bravely Protecting Californians From Schools Without Fax Machines

BPPE regulations require that:

Is this really an unreasonable requirement for a professional business? Or do you prefer a MUST University scenario, where all identities and contact info are carefully masked?

It's true that fax machines are increasingly obsolete -- however, I understand they are still widely used by lawyers. It wouldn't surprise me if this has something to do with the fax number requirement, which involves "the conduct of legal transactions on behalf of the institution".

But in any event, note that the BPPE regulations do not require a "fax machine". They require a "fax number".

Internet fax numbers, which allow you to send and receive faxes via email, are inexpensive, especially considering that they do not require a second phone line. For example, efax costs $170 for an annual membership, which covers the cost to send and receive 150 fax pages per month.

Given that Hackbright Academy charges $15,000 for a single student for a 10-week course, a $170/year charge for a fax number doesn't seem like a critical burden.

 

Apparently fax machines are still the preferred means of communication in certain legal situations. If you transmit a fax successfully, you get printed confirmation that the recipient's fax machine received it. So it's like certified mail: you get proof of delivery. But certified mail takes days, while faxes take seconds.

You don't get proof of delivery with ordinary mail, or with e-mail. If you use Microsoft Outlook for email, you can request a delivery or read receipt. However, many mail servers don't honor those requests -- and even if they do get through, the recipient can reject them.

It's not too hard to imagine why a state agency might want proof of delivery when communicating with a party over a regulatory issue.