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A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

utcc.utoronto.ca

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Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#3
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

also, (or: alternatively?) one that can't be/won't be blocked by the centralized services' spam filters. The biggest hurdle to running your own email server nowadays isn't the online time or the data volume or anything; it's that the existing institutions don't recognize you as part of the institutional club and block your messages...

btw, Germany did this a decade ago: giving everyone an email account with the national mail service, as an "official email." I honestly don't know anyone here who uses it.

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#4
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

while I agree with the idea of emails that can't be arbitrarily shutdown, SSN-xx-HERE@citizen.gov sounds like all kinds of awful. It will either be instantly unusable or require a gov approved SPAM filter, both of which are bad. It also seems like a good vector to force a backdoor on all comms.

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#5
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

Is there somehow a lack of affordable - and in many cases free - email options that we need a government solution to this?

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#6
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

while I agree with the idea of emails that can't be arbitrarily shutdown, SSN-xx-HERE@citizen.gov sounds like all kinds of awful. It will either be instantly unusable or require a gov approved SPAM filter, both of which are bad. It also seems like a good vector to force a backdoor on all comms.

I think the issue (as in the what) is that people should always be able to have a fallback option for sending and receiving email that's not at the whim of Google, MS et al.

SSN-xx-HERE@citizen.gov is a how, which may or may not be a good one. For one, here in France, the SSN isn't as important as it seems to be in the US, so its being public is probably less of an issue. This approach would still be bad for spam or whatever.

Another how could be by using the same kind of naming in use elsewhere, as in name.surname.213@citizen.gov. Except that not anyone would be able to randomly open an account. You'd have to go through some kind of agency that would check your ID. This would allow them to expose a way of changing (in case its overrun by spam) or unlocking (in case of lost password) your account safely.

We have a more or less similar thing in France with bank accounts: you have an "opposable right" (as in, undeniable) to have a basic bank account. Not sure if this is a French law or an EU directive, but I think the same could work for email.

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#7
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

Hopefully this citizens email also comes with severe rules for commercial mail or else it'll soon be flooded with junk.

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#8
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

But we also all need to eat and use a toilet to live. Those seem to be provided by the market to a reasonable degree. Email is also pretty cheap and there's at least some choice among providers, though of course far fewer that food types.

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#9
post #5
post #2

Email is our only reliable communication method between different organizations. I'm still of the opinion there should be public-option internet services. Everyone deserves an e-mail address that cannot be taken away from them without a court order.

Is there somehow a lack of affordable - and in many cases free - email options that we need a government solution to this?

arbitrary account shutdown is a known issue with free email. losing your gmail account without explanation and with no recourse can be an awful situation for anyone, especially for vulnerable populations. This leaves the options of forcing private orgs to maintain email addresses or have a gov email for every citizen, both of which have significant drawbacks.

Re: A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

#10
> There are a huge variety of intra-organizational communication systems, to the point where pretty much every large enterprise provider seems to have one (Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, etc etc).

That's why I find Delta Chat piggybacking on Push-IMAP such an interesting concept: https://delta.chat

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