The Idea may be noble, the problems, legion.
for example, look @ standard mail. The founding fathers knew the post was
essential for commerce & development -- it has always been painful & left
something to be desired. (remember the pony express, & how wire & radio
telegraph [similar in its day to e-mail] filled a void that exists to this day.)
Note that todays post addresses are not unique or exclusive, whole families
share the address of a home & you can snail-mail me at at least 4 addresses.
Privacy & censorship (already an issue in some e-communities) who knows??
what would the unique addresses be anyway, meaningless SSN's ?? (not meant for
ID, HA!), given name & town? (thats how many surnames were created hundreds of
years ago).
Considering the possibility makes me rethink some or our past discussions, like
the library based e-mail talked about at some meetings. Again the idea is noble
but adminestering the 20,000 addresses (just in westchester) is literaly a
nightmare (right Chris?) (how much disk space do 20,000 EMPTY directories take,
& what to do for those who dont read (often) or delete (ever) their mail.
THE POINT--
E-mail access for those who can use it is great, but I dont think it is the
important issue. The issue is INFORMATION ACCESS: ftp & library servers (if you
know what you are looking for) Web browsers etc (if you dont know what you are
looking for). This IS being accomplished by the library system & it's public
access terminals.
There is GOBBs of flufff on the network now. There is no reason the GOV should
get involved in helping people make their football picks, etc. But like
libraries in the past have provided access to published hardcopy information,
freedom of information (its not just an act ;-o) requires that virtual info
be readily available for mininal effort.
I admit I dont quite know what all this means in terms of a press release.
Thanks for your attention in this my first effort in the discussion group.
Matt Wynn
73040.575@compuserve.com