Security verification

This column contemplates why we use faxed signatures for stuff. Why do we use something so easy to forge? Because we usually only accept them in a context where there are ways to make sure it's real.

Unless you're a lazy jail guard, and release a prisoner based on a fax sent from McDonald's. (McDonald's has a fax machine?)

And I learned that banks don't bother to verify check signatures unless the amount is over $30,000. Because it's cheaper to clean up the mess later on the tiny percentage of fake checks, than it is to verify all the legit ones.