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A realization of why email is critical infrastructure for the Internet

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

#191

Post by rtourn »

throwaway6734 wrote: post #184
EvanAnderson wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a vague hope that the United States Postal Service could be "pivoted" into being a PKI provider and distribute physical tokens to citizens. They already have substantial procedures and infrastructure for verifying identity. There would be problems, to be sure, but I'd much rather get my ubiquitous PKI for citizens from the USPS than the banks or "tech giants".

It's a real shame the USPS didn't jump on email at the start and become an email provider

They still can. A government doesn't have the need for first mover advantage because they have the power to make the official version. Also, the technology is very mature and best practices are better known. The userbase has been trained. And it's cheaper for them to do it now.

Though an official united states citizen email address has its own pitfalls for abuse, scams, and fraud.

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

#192

Post by spc476 »

Bud wrote: post #150
Sebb767 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As the public demands younger and younger political classes, with lower and lower salaries Looking into the US senate, I fail to see that trend. In the last presidential election, both candidates were older than my grandparents. Even in my country, seeing a really young person in a political position is very rare. They exist (if you define "young" as under 40), but they are rare. I don't think age worries are a fac…

You're not paying attention to the salaries part, though. Look at the pay for members of the House and Senate, in real dollars, over the last 50 years. Also pay attention to how much stupid noise there is about how members of Congress are supposedly overpaid. The pay for all US Senators combined (under $18M) is less than half of what LeBron James makes (over $41M) in salary alone in a year.

But until relatively recently (2018 perhaps?) Congress was legally allowed to profit with insider trading (probably due to Article I, section 6, paragraph 1 of the Constitution).

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

#193

Post by riffic »

mdavis6890 wrote: post #188

I always have this feeling that email is flawed and due for a complete overhaul or replacement - and then I think about it a little harder and I realize that it's actually really good at it's intended purpose. Other than fiddling around the edges with security improvements, spam filtering, and a few other nice-to-haves, there's not really much that need improvement. Some features of email that are nice: - It's comple…

email, as ancient and flawed as it is, is a shining example of the Lindy effect in play - the future life expectancy of a technology or an idea is proportional to its current age.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect

Any replacement will have to keep the above in mind because there's no test like the test of time.

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

#194

Post by jrm4 »

JohnWhigham wrote: post #137
lwhi wrote: post #36

I really hope that we end up moving back towards supporting open protocols. I was heartened (and a little surprised) that Jack Dorsey recently mentioned that the draconian control of the Twitter API was the worst thing Twitter had done [1]. The corporatisation of the Internet, has undone a lot of the great work that had traditionally underpinned the network. It feels like the slow, laborious and fundamentally equitab…

I was heartened (and a little surprised) that Jack Dorsey recently mentioned that the draconian control of the Twitter API was the worst thing Twitter had done [1]. I wasn't, because he didn't do jack shit to change it. We hear this bullshit all the time; big actors sound off about what was wrong at their previous places, but rarely did they do anything to upset the apple cart.

I'd say (and I think this happens quite often, moreso in politics) it is at least possible you may be overestimating his power to do so, perhaps at least by the time he realized it?

Twitter wasn't his github repo, it was his gazillion dollar company that has to answer to a lot of stakeholders.

(That being said, no reason to not get on them about it.)

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

#195

Post by threatofrain »

adolph wrote: post #139
threatofrain wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Just like how the highly regulated phone system dealt with voice and SMS spam.

Email is already flooded. We don’t need your metaphor.

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

#196

Post by shukantpal »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #164
shukantpal wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of being controlled by the government, maybe we should make it easier to setup a mail server for your domain?

Domains are still controlled by the government.

That's true, but the government is still further away from control; besides, web3 is bringing decentralized DNS (see Handshake Protocol) to fix that.

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

#197

Post by fghgg »

mdavis6890 wrote: post #188

I always have this feeling that email is flawed and due for a complete overhaul or replacement - and then I think about it a little harder and I realize that it's actually really good at it's intended purpose. Other than fiddling around the edges with security improvements, spam filtering, and a few other nice-to-haves, there's not really much that need improvement. Some features of email that are nice: - It's comple…

I think Matrix has got allt hat as well.

And it has the security improvements and others as well (see features of e.g. Discord or WhatsApp).

Anyways, I don't think I still use email for its intended purpose anyways. It mainly became something to tie accounts to and to 2fa

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

#198

Post by qybaz »

lolsal wrote: post #179
qybaz wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could ask yourself the same question about all the public infrastructure that exists. I mean why even have roads, legally or morally??

Roads serve the public interest and have been legislated into existence at the federal level[1]. Your turn. [1] - https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/lfp_0...

Were roads legislated before they existed?

Did they serve the public interest (as in, did everybody benefit from them) when they were starting to get built?

That's precisely what will happen with what I proposed.

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

#199

Post by truffdog »

Sebb767 wrote: post #136
toyg wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do we know it's not money in a brown paper bag/briefcase One of the problems is that some of these checks can only be performed much later. The most common currency of choice, for modern bribes, is the promise of a fat gig in the private sector when the political career ends. As the public demands younger and younger political classes, with lower and lower salaries, while maintaining an appetite for career-endi…

> As the public demands younger and younger political classes, with lower and lower salaries Looking into the US senate, I fail to see that trend. In the last presidential election, both candidates were older than my grandparents. Even in my country, seeing a really young person in a political position is very rare. They exist (if you define "young" as under 40), but they are rare. I don't think age worries are a fac…

Their staff- who do the research and write the laws- are almost entirely under 30 though.

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

#200

Post by fghgg »

diegocg wrote: post #64
_8j50 wrote: post #42

Please HN, let email die. it is unsecurable (universal) in transit or storage (mta's) and because of its reliability and universal adoption a ton of security depends on it like a very rotten and rusted link in a chain even a small child can break. It is an almost 4 decade old tech where any security you find for it is purely opportunistic. I am very concerned how people here are stating how good, simple and reliable…

And your suggested replacement is...? You seem to have missed the point of the article. Email is a necessity - there is no alternative.

Matrix?

But good luck moving people off email

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