"on the wall"

Handwriting not on the wall for fax machines.

Could you please explain the meaning of “on the wall”?

The writing on the wall
"a (usually) negative event is easily predictable based on the current situation. Often, the event is seen as hard to avert. "

I feel that the headline of the article is misleading. It’s not about handwriting but about fax machines.

Actually, I bought a new fax machine and replaced the old one in our living room with the new one, a few months ago. It is said that faxes offer advantages in terms of “confidentiality and security” although I rarely use them.

Any kind of encrypted email IE https://protonmail.ch is more secure than fax. Unfortunately Canadian laws often do not reflect that.

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“I feel that the headline of the article is misleading. It’s not about handwriting but about fax machines.”

The “handwriting” in the headline is part of the figurative expression “writing on the wall” that you mentioned, while at the same time referring to the handwriting habit of the Japanese users the article talks about - sort of a double entendre.

“It is said that faxes offer advantages in terms of confidentiality and security, although I rarely use them.”

I doubt they offer any security or confidentiality. The paper is usually in the open for anyone to see.

As the article says, though, scanner/copies are nowadays made to include fax/email functions as well.
So I suppose there is no reason to try to drop the fax feature as long as there are users.

But the old style fax-only machines are pretty much a thing of the past, I think.

“I doubt they offer any security or confidentiality. The paper is usually in the open for anyone to see.”

Whereas telephone conversations could be tapped easily, handwritten messages sent via fax machines are harder to reconstruct and change.
In the article there is a comment about this:
“It is nearly impossible to intercept fax transmissions. Documents cannot be manipulated.”

I see. I guess it is impossible because it goes over a conventional telephone line instead of sharing internet data traffic?

But with all that, the old fashioned fax machines (and scanners) have an increased risk because at both ends the user must deal with a printed image. Unless the machine is in a secured place, it’s really easy for unauthorized people to see the paper coming out of or lying around the machine. This is in contrast with emails where the text and data don’t get printed so other people usually can’t know anything at the two endpoints. Of course, all this is only an issue in shared office environments like workplaces.

So maybe faxes are secure on the communication line but more vulnerable at the human interface points.

In any case, with the latest fancier machines, the line between fax and email is more and more blurred. Fax machines can send things using internet data network, and emails with scanned picture attachments (and with encryption) can do most everything a fax machines does. So I think the traditional kind of fax machines are going away.