Is there email counterpart of HTTP 301? This could be the solution. But it would have to be much more secure and would require human confirmations to make the "301" to take the effect.
Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
81–90 of 258 posts
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#82And this is why, back in 2007, I registered my own domain, and signed up for then-free Google Apps for Your Domain (then GSuite, Google Workspaces, whatever they're calling it now). Earlier this year I moved my email to Fastmail, and I can move it elsewhere if I want to, with zero disruption or downtime. I really wish email providers would make custom domains either the default, or a very obvious option when signing…
> I really wish email providers would make custom domains either the default, or a very obvious option when signing up.
They don't because it creates huge friction to leave. They'll have to be mandated to do this, and I think they should be.
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I have a good idea of what you mean, but for those who don't, could you elaborate on the benefits?
once you have a domain you now have the ability to own stuff online. that is, independent of any corporation. The main benefit this gives your average person is the ability to move email around between server providers. but you can now have a web presence that is not (facebook, twitter, hackernews). nothing against sites, they are fine, but it is nice to have an online existance that is independent of them. Unfortuna…
It's good for having your own website. That's super easy to host and use.
It's quite another thing for email. While it might not be that difficult to set up a basic email server, but to actually get it set up all correctly, and secure, and whitelisted, and get anything else on the 'net to actually interact with it is a little less trivial. And an email server that can't effectively send email (that won't be ditched along the way by some anti-spam measure somewhere) would be pretty limited.
Maybe useful for receive-only stuff like password reset links or one-time authentication links though?
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#84I've spent the last year or so moving from a Gmail address to my own domain (hosted on Worksplace). I kept reading report after report of people having their Google accounts banned for any and no reason, and I realised how many services I have tied to me email. I'd be spending a lifetime trying to recover them all, and I don't think I'd be successful for half of them. Now, if my Workspace account is ever banned, I can immediately take my domain elsewhere and retain access to everything.
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#85I like my email provider — he is me.
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#86The problem with several of these email subscriptions is that they will reissue your email address to another if you leave them, with all the risks that entails. The answer is to buy and use your own domain or get someone else to do it.
This seems backwards. Most email providers won't reissue your login, while domain registrars will definitely resell your domain.
They may not reissue it immediately but I am not aware of any mainstream email provider that promises to never reuse an identity.
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#87It 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…
but if you stop renting from the registrar then whoever rents the domain next gets access to your email. seems like a horrible solution to this problem. at least i can be reasonably confident that google will never recycle my email address and send all incoming mail to a rando.
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#88It 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…
How do you own a domain? If you rely on a registrar, it just move the identity owner from an email provider to a registrar. Real overkill method is own a TLD. It's unrealistic for an individual though.
Perhaps it would be easier to just own an IP address?
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could just extend the logic and tie it all the way down to your house address. john.124mainst@stlouis.mo.us and finally commit to a real-world identity to match the cyber one. Why not have a mail server in every house and then it's private and everybody can understand your email address. When you move house, the mail server spits out a thumb drive with your emails and deletes the local storage. You move email address…
That gets unwieldy in a hurry for apartments and other multi-unit addresses. Not to mention 124 East Main St vs 124 West Main St. Then what happens when John (who is actually John Jr., but never uses the Junior unless legally required) has a son John III? Then John Sr. moves in rather than to a nursing home.
Same as whatever people do with their physical mail. Someone goes by a middle initial or you add a title to one and not the other.
Your physical home address used to get printed under your photo in the 1940s newspapers. They stopped when people started to get murdered. I think there's good reasons we don't publicly ID off home addresses anymore. It sure would make life somewhat simpler if we could though.
Re: Your online identity is owned by your email provider (2019)
#90"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
Yes, and one of those cases is anytime you don't pay them rent to renew your lease before the expiration.