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Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

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21–30 of 258 posts

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#21
post #7

State-funded email with E2EE. Every citizen gets an email address. You don't have to use it (and it will probably suck compared to competitors), but you'll have it as a permanent fallback address. And presumably it will come with some legal protections and due process.

India has come close to this. At one point they proposed one IPv6 /64 per citizen as an absolute right. It doesn't fit current address allocation models, or even routing models, but I can see what took them there. As an overlay network? It might be interesting.

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#22
post #10
post #4

This is largely true for myself as well. 1Password helps me and my family from going full in, but if I lost my gmail i would have a lot of problems. The recent discussion of CP flagging wreaking havoc[0] has caused us to start evaluating because we do have young children and we do take pictures for healthcare providers. Feels like a ticking time bomb for us. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-su…

The bastards even refused to restore access after the individuals involved were cleared by police. That part alone has made me start considering other options. No company should be allowed to wield that much power over a person.

Absolutely, this part frustrated me the most. People were saying well Google likely did that because they didn't want to admit they were wrong.

From my point of view they didn't really do anything wrong. They flagged something that was suspicious, which is fine. Then relied on the authorities to clear any wrongdoing due to the nature of what they flagged. At that point they should have reinstated the account.

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#23
post #18

"You can take some control over your own identity in the current email-based online ecosystem by renting a domain name" Originally, the idea was that you owned a domain name. Gradually, domain registrars have moved this to the concept that you're just renting it from them. Although you can still transfer domains to another registrar. I'd like to find a domain registrar whose contractual terms stated that you own your…

For ICANN accredited registrars, aren't there rules about when and how a registrar can delete or revoke a domain? You can submit complaints to ICANN here: https://www.icann.org/compliance/complaint

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#25
It is a bit overkill, but the closest you can get to owning your online identity is to "own" your own domain. sarcastiquotes used because you don't really own a domain you only rent it.

I run my own mail server because I am a sys-admin and running a mail-server is something I do for fun. but the amount of agency you gain once you have a domain is staggering. people without a domain are pretty much second class net citizens.

I wish municipality offered domains, for example: you move to St Louis you would get name.stlouis.mo.us this would give you the same agency online that a mail address gets you offline.

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#26
post #25

It is a bit overkill, but the closest you can get to owning your online identity is to "own" your own domain. sarcastiquotes used because you don't really own a domain you only rent it. I run my own mail server because I am a sys-admin and running a mail-server is something I do for fun. but the amount of agency you gain once you have a domain is staggering. people without a domain are pretty much second class net ci…

I think I have a good idea of what you mean, but for those who don't, could you elaborate on the benefits?

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#27
post #19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, give everyone an assymmetric encryption key associated with you identity. To prove your identity, you sign a challenge with your private key, and the other party verifies it using your public key (which could itself be signed your government). Although, for that to fully work,you would need international cooperation on a standard for that protocol.

Nah. Just have people generate their own keys. Then distribute a token to everyone, like registering to vote or NYC ID. Finally, have an official mixer like tornado cash that only works with these tokens. Ring signatures baby ! Now you distribute UBI, allow voting etc. And it is all pseudonymous. That’s what we are building out at Intercoin.org/applications btw :)

Sounds interesting but can you elaborate on the social benefits, challenges and potential downfalls of such an approach?

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#28
post #15
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iirc online identity used to be tied to your public key signature ? Might be too technical for most population to use, but the ideal solution is already there I think ?

Some people will definitely lose their private key

Use multiple keys and use a system that permits easy revokes.

Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)

#30
post #25

It is a bit overkill, but the closest you can get to owning your online identity is to "own" your own domain. sarcastiquotes used because you don't really own a domain you only rent it. I run my own mail server because I am a sys-admin and running a mail-server is something I do for fun. but the amount of agency you gain once you have a domain is staggering. people without a domain are pretty much second class net ci…

I run my own email server too, many will not because of fear of missconfiguring it- and in some respect they are correct, first thing I have done wrong 11-ish years ago was to make my server an open relay which was cought in 5 minutes from setting up and luckily I figured it out 5 minutes later. No big deal, I love postfix and dovecot :)
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