42 Free and Open Source Projects Receive Funding to Reclaim the Public Nature of the Internet
NLnet; 42 Free and Open Source Projects Receive Funding to Reclaim the Public Nature of the Internet
I still feel that certain must haves on the internet should have a government option. Email is something that is very problematic to change. Its your home on the internet. Its the core of the internet identity. I think everyone should have a right to an email address that is already secured for government communications which don't have to leave the internal government system. They don't have to allow for vast storage as the user can pop email off and hold it locally. It should be setup to work with heavily regulated industries like banking so that communication is considered secure. I always get flak on this but its like dudes you can still have your proton account or google or whatever but this would be an email you have a right to but you don't have to use outside of government communications and you should be able to go to the government office if you have issues with it. In the us I could see usps handling if it it was country wide or secretary of state for the state level.
I sometimes like to imagine a future where your local library provides email addresses to card holders
Having the government provide email as a public communication service sounds good in theory. However, this could also pose a privacy risk if your government turns rogue and authoritarian. If it is possible to also have this communication E2E encrypted in a way that is as frictionless as possible (no, PGP is not really that frictionless unless it's built in), it would be great. However, we all know what is the general take of governments regarding E2E encryption, so I think I'll pass this one.
Im not suggesting it be the only source of email just a guaranteed source that won't go away and allow for more secure email from the government. people can still go crazy on whatever email provider they want but gmail makes up a huge amount and I mean.... I would expect encryption like that. I know folks will say government won't do that but look at our mail system and how its setup. It can be done. The safest way to safeguard an item from search is to put it in an addressed and stamped envelope.
People have invented cryptographic identities. Maybe unbinding email identity from service is long overdue.
I'm biased, but seems much better than what you are suggesting.
The idea is sound, I think. Treat emails, in a way, like we do phone numbers and house addresses. Except this doesn't ever change, when your name could (or you share a name with thousands of others). I wonder what the identifier would be for the address? Obviously SSN[at]usa.gov is a bad idea 😅
However, could you imagine the nightmare (on both sides) of a tech support call center for official government email account support?
I dislike this idea that government run is bad.
I recently changed my name and had to call several government agencies and found them competent and helpful every time.
you know that is the thing. If we expect the populace to deal with large portions of their lives virtually then they need that support. Support the private industry does not give and quite frankly makes less secure. In addition its part of something that has always been a government task. identity. birth, death, marriage records and basic id.
Do any countries provide email services to their citizens? Of course email is no use unless you have a way to access it, so you would need to add some sort of basic internet connection. And of course you would need something to connect with...
Not necessarily. As long as their is public access to networked computers like at the library. Which is common in the us.
It doesn't have to be email. Denmark has such a system, called e-boks. It's essentially your digital mailbox where you can receive most letters from government agencies and banks (no more paper!). Other institutions and companies can use it too (not sure about who can and can't use, maybe you can send 'letters' from one individual to another too?). I think it's also possible to respond in some cases.
Yeah if it can essentially work like email but given another name that is fine to me. I think it should at least have a box that can accept emails from whoevery for general correspondence if you need it but yeah I sorta want it to be different for the security it should have. I just figured there would be like an internal government network part with encrypted connections for that communication and then like the secondary one for banks and such where the institution that use something like a vpn to that area and again is all encrypted and then like a public box that is citizen beware type of thing. I have mentioned this before and I think someone mentioned the denmark thing sorta. At least it only makes one more thing you need to log into as opposed to like a million different agencies and institution portals. There is one eastern europe country too that I recall was doing a lot of things online and I assume maybe they have something like this.