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A $8.5 billion subsidy to cover this last year's losses could have bought 20 million Americans iPads/netbooks. What, exactly, would that achieve? Not the same
by rwl 16y ago
A $8.5 billion subsidy to cover this last year's losses could have bought 20 million Americans iPads/netbooks.
What, exactly, would that achieve? Not the same function that the USPS does. Sure, 20 million more people would have a device, but they wouldn't have a "U.S. Email address" in the same way that they have a "U.S. Mail address". They would just have a way to use someone else's privately-owned infrastructure. Who knows how long that would last, or how reliable it would be?
If we're going to subsidize universal service, let's do it in a modern fashion.
I agree. But that means what we should be doing is building public infrastructure for new forms of communication, not farming it out to private infrastructure (which decides whether or not to deliver mail, first and foremost, on the basis of whether it is profitable) in order to save a buck. Let's have a national electronic service that:
- provides an "address" [1] to every citizen, with a directory that allows people to find each other
- provides guaranteed, reliable, on-time delivery at minimal cost to the sender
- guarantees secure communications
- provides a channel for official communications, from voting to tax forms to jury duty summons
[1] I'm not sure if "address" is the right metaphor or not. Certainly, a mere "government email address" wouldn't be sufficient. The basic point is that every individual citizen ought to have some sort of secure repository where they can receive communications of all kinds: email, documents, whatever. And it should be at least as easy to access this repository as it is to walk out your door to your mailbox. That means that, if people need a computer and Internet connection to access it, they must be provided with one; their hardware, software, and network connection must work at least as reliably as mail delivery does.
- nitrogen 16y agoI'd rather not have yet another way for the government to track my every move and communication. I do like the concept of having a single destination for communication, regardless of my location, but I don't want the (US) government involved. What I'd really like is a way to receive physical mail at a single "address" no matter where I am. If I'm traveling, living in a place temporarily for short-term work, studying, whatever, I don't want to have to keep updating my mailing address with companies and a dozen government agencies.
- rwl 16y agoI'd rather not have yet another way for the government to track my every move and communication. I do like the concept of having a single destination for communication, regardless of my location, but I don't want the (US) government involved. I understand the sentiment here, but I wonder what the alternative is. (Letting Facebook track your every move and communication?) Given that the communication is going to take place over somebody's infrastructure, I'd much rather have whoever controls it be accountable to the public. It's in the public's interest to have a secure channel for communication (secure from everyone, including government agencies). The government is supposed to be our means of providing things that are in our interest. If it can't do that (or it won't do that without providing a back-door for its own domestic snooping), then we have a much more serious problem: a society which is a democracy in name only. I think this is a problem to be addressed, not an inevitability that we should be resigned to. What I'd really like is a way to receive physical mail at a single "address" no matter where I am. If I'm traveling, living in a place temporarily for short-term work, studying, whatever, I don't want to have to keep updating my mailing address with companies and a dozen government agencies. This would be great! It's a different problem, though: we're back in the realm of physical mail, rather than electronic communication.
- nitrogen 16y agoI've heard of mailbox services that will collect your mail, scan and e-mail it to you, then shred whatever you don't need in physical form. A Google search for "mail scanning service" turned up Earth Class Mail and a few others; I might have to check them out.