From the "you can't make this shit up" files...

Statists have plenty of bad ideas: going to war for oil, setting up regulatory agencies that don't do their jobs, molesting people in the name of security...

But has PC Magazine now gone totally postal with this first class FAIL? They suggest that the US Postal Service, which is in a death spiral and on the verge of bankruptcy, should take over email. That's right - let that sink-in for a moment. Take one of the most effective communication methods the world has ever seen and turn it over to be centrally managed by a quasi-governmental agency that is $15 billion in debt, has lost $20 billion since 2007, currently requires a federal bailout of more than $50 billion, and has become almost obsolete because of that very technology that it would now control. That takes the idea of nationalization to a whole new level.

(As a reminder, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are quasi-governmental agencies - or call them government-sponsored enterprises, as it makes no difference. Remember what happened to them?)

The author is generally correct to assert that email fraud is a problem. However, it appears he is unfamiliar with the fraud committed by governmental agencies (e.g., $9 trillion missing from the Federal Reserve, $2 trillion unaccounted for at the Pentagon, $18 billion of Iraqi oil money stolen, $12 billion cash vanished in Iraq).

The analogy of using drone bombs that cause "a massive humanitarian emergency" in order to swat a fly seems appropriate here.

The author also complains about non-standard email addressing and formatting and of "weird" nicknames. Boo-fucking-hoo.

Do you agree that this is a "whackjob" idea? Do you want the USPS to control your email? How about those of you outside the US - are you uncomfortable with this idea? Are you that unhappy with spam that you're willing to turn email regulation over to a government organization? What do you think of this author's idea? Should the USPS be bailed out or allowed to fail?

This idea first appeared in the 1980s when most people were doing email on CompuServe, MCI Mail and AT&T, along with a very few Arpanet users. Within a few short years, AOL became the dominant player, and finally the Web came along. Before you knew it, everyone was using email.

The USPS had early opportunities to jump in and probably take over the scene, which became chaotic over time and is now a mess. In fact, many people have abandoned email because of spam and other problems...

If the USPS had oversight over all email in one way or another, these illegal schemes could be considered mail fraud and something might be done about them, since the requirements for prosecution are less stringent than what the FBI might need...

I do not think it is too late for the USPS to introduce a spam-free email system for the public at large. Although, horrible stories about government intrusions have made the public paranoid, so the time might not be right.

Turn Email Over to the U.S. Postal Service. If the USPS controlled the email system, there would be less fraud and more address and format standardization

DISCUSS!

Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Jun 30, 2011 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=590