From ASOS orders to WhatsApp threads, it's safe to
say that we (at least us gen Ys) comfortably communicate online. So
why the hesitation to allow notices under a contract to be served
by email?
Sure, there are the usual concerns of how to prove receipt of
the email in IT terms (did your email make it through the
hyper-sensitive quarantine filter?) and getting around ostensible
authority with email signatures (surely your computer and email was
hacked?); but is this really different to letters lost in the post,
forgery or the fax machine spontaneously combusting? We think
not.
Two years on from the reforms to the Electronic Transactions
Act 1999 (NSW) debate ensues over whether an email is as
reliable as a fax machine (in any event, many faxes are now sent
and received by email). This is a rare example of the law catching
up to technology before the masses do.
