3 ms·
> Universal utilities like Google should have retail outlets which are adapted to local conditions and can exercise educated judgement. Sorry but this just isn
by kweingar 4y ago
> Universal utilities like Google should have retail outlets which are adapted to local conditions and can exercise educated judgement.
Sorry but this just isn't happening, and if there is regulation to make something like this happen, companies will just turn off their services. Plus this would essentially seal off competition: want to run an email hosting startup? Guess you have to manage real estate all over the world and work with every government.
This whole conversation seems backwards to me. Yes, it should be easier for people to recover their accounts, but should governments be totally reliant on private email providers for communicating with people who need services?
The story, as I understand it, goes something like this: a case worker emails a homeless person, the homeless person can't access their email, and then the case worker denies them access to programs because they never got a response. That is not solely an email problem---it's also a huge problem with these programs and services! Why don't they provide identity services and retail outlets to help people get the resources they need? Why are governments shoving this responsibility into the private sector?
- pyrale 4y ago> Guess you have to manage real estate all over the world and work with every government. Or, you know, pass a deal with post offices or banks. Bank ID is pretty widespread in nordic countries for instance. But as with other topics (e.g. banking services) we're getting the usual HN answer where anything unheard of in SV but common elsewhere is considered luxury science fiction.