I find this rather scary - the internet is not a public utility yet it is required for more and more government services.
Bit of a pipe dream however I think the idea has real merit
Thank you toomuchtodo for writing to me about government services to move to email first for correspondence. As you know, I have always supported government accountability and efficiency, and will certainly consider this should legislation come up about it. Please continue to keep me informed about the issues that are important to you. Sincerely, your Congressional Representative.
Do that, but go a little farther.
You should be able to register with the USPS to get a universal ID (UID), and then associate both a mailing address and an email address with that UID.
USPS would then provide both an email address and virtual mailing address that incorporate the UID. Email sent to that email address would forward to the real email address associated with the UID, and physical mail sent to the virtual mailing address would be delivered to the associated physical mailing address.
I'd like to see them also offer an ID verification service, that provides a way for you to verify to a third party that you control a particular UID. This could provide a robust account recovery mechanism for other services.
Right now, if an account at some service gets hijacked, or you simply forget or lose your credentials, recovery usually depends on SMS or on email. The problem with those is that they too can be hijacked, and their recovery also depends on SMS or email. You end up with a tangled mess of dependencies.
A way to fix this is to organize account recovery as a tree. At the root you have some service where recovery requires that you physically show up at their office and present proof of identity, such as a passport.
Then directly under the root you might have your main email account or your main mobile phone account. Account recovery for those would involve verifying your identity with the root.
Below those, you might have your social media accounts, your utility accounts, and so on. Recovery for those would involved verifying you via your mail email or main mobile number.
How you organize it is up to you. They key, though, is to have something at the top that you can always recover, and make everything else be ultimately recoverable through that. (I'd probably personally do a 5 level tree: root; domain registrars; main email; mobile phone; everything else).
USPS would be good for the root because they have offices all over the country. Most people can get to a USPS office without too much hardship. (Banks would also be a good option for root identity providers).
Once you elect to communicate via this government blessed email, you are basically forced to check that email everyday notwithstanding your ability (e.g. when your computer/internet breaks) as the communication is considered delivered once it hits your (e-)mail box.
For example if you are summoned to court (and it is a felony to not show up), I'd think I'd prefer snail mail for those communications, as I'd trust my "tech stack" of a physical mail box on the receiving side a bit more than some government blessed email provider.
Also, once spammers/scammers get ahold of it (I give it ten minutes), you are truly screwed.
If we wanted to, we should provide two emails to the general public. A restricted communications one following the rules I suggest above, and perhaps a more general purpose one for those who want to use that, with the only requirement that you already signed up for the first one).
I know that's convoluted. It's just one idea of course. I think we could deal with this problem.
Also the gov being the gov, they could just mandate Google provide spam filter protections or something.
It's still a lot easier to check email than walk to a mailbox daily. But the best solution is probably to default to both email & mail such that the email can be send when the letter is sent but neither would be considered a delivered message until the letter itself was delivered.
>For example if you are summoned to court
Aren't such thing delivered under signature?
Although this is not true email but a special message system that needs two factor auth to log in.
But...I think that most of us are familiar with how good the Government is at running these kinds of efforts.
That said, it is a quasi-private effort, and might actually be able to field a decent team.
We have government-funded libraries all across the country that provide internet access. While I believe that mail should always be an option, ease of access is something that I think is over-valued when it comes to government.
That's not to say that I don't appreciate convenience. Convenience and a broad range of availability are good things. But at the same time, I don't hold the belief that government owes us convenience.
So with that said, and excepting arguments of convenience of availability of internet, I think it's hard to make the case that someone may be excluded just because they don't have internet. Used to be some people had to ride half a day on a horse to conduct some government business. To me, that is the baseline, and anything beyond that is a privileged blessing, NOT a necessity.
I know this is a very unpopular opinion.
Are you referring to campus library or public? What state?
- Although much improved over the last decade, library internet is still quite slow and often the desktop computers are riddled with spyware. Yeah, everyone has cell phones, but a temporarily homeless person should still be able to do coursework (obviously a very naive example but still happens)
- Here's an exaggerated counterargument to your convenience argument: What if you had to travel to your state capital to vote or register for a marriage license?
I'm sorry what? This isn't the 1800's anymore, this way of thinking just astounds me. How can you anyone look at our modern times and say as long as your a half days horse ride away from a government office you got everything you need. You're ignoring that fact most people don't even have horses. Cars have existed for over 100 years now. You could at-least factor that into your baseline.
If we never move the baseline up then we lose the will to advance. We strip the upward mobility of our poorer citizens.
ease of access is something that I think is over-valued when it comes to government
The harder it is for your average citizen to due something the less likely they are to do it. It discriminates against the people who need help the most and concentrates power into fewer and fewer hands.
Take starting a Business for example, the harder it is the less people will do it. This is bad for our economy and society as a whole. Less small businesses means less jobs, less ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty. The more difficult Government is to interface with the more time someone has to devote to dealing with it. It means less time to focus on education or a small business, or their family, or health. It means they are more likely to be stuck where they are.
Ease of Access to Government resources can be directly correlated to some peoples quality of life. Think of Food stamps or welfare to the people who need it.
I think it's hard to make the case that someone may be excluded just because they don't have internet
No, its pretty easy, most libraries have been closed due to Covid. Many people might not have reliable access to the internet atm. Which in the supposed best country on Earth is scary.
If walking to the library literally entails putting your life and property at risk, and you can't afford public transportation, how would you not consider that somebody being excluded just due to not having internet at home?
If you want to make the case that an implicitly enforced delay somehow improves the service then you should provide an actual argument.
Otherwise this is basically: "Things used to be bad and I had to deal with it. Therefor, I would impose this hardship on everyone" which is a relatively toxic way to look at the world.
I am not sure society is completely ready for a fully digital world just yet; emails, phone numbers, authentication, username, passwords, 2FA codes, biometrics...
Gmail should absolutely be taken away from Google's influence and treated as a public utility (free for everyone for life).
For example, a pen is not a public utility yet it is required for more and more government services.
Are all government offices public-transport accessible? (in a practical way - not in "two busses a day per route" kind of way)
1. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Is-there-mail-service-for-the...