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Samstag, 18. April 2009
Emaille
diegolego, 21:18h
As you might know, by end of this month I will move to a new job and a new city. When it rains, it pours. Eventually, I also need to change my Email-address. The one I am currently (still) using is the first one I ever got, namely in 1996 when I went to university. The consequence is that this address is spread all over the place - literally everywhere. It is almost impossible to figure out everyone who should know about a change of address. In a sense, this can be an advantage, because this way one gets rid of mail that is not wanted. Somehow, I expect to soon receive spam also with the new address.
My point is that it is relatively easy to inform all friends and acquaintances. Even if I would forget someone, I can be found on the web. Much more complicated are all types of accounts. Why do we need to log-in for so many things? For every little thing on the web, one is requested to register, create an account and so on. Very often it is not so easy to find the actual place where to change the email address (if it is possible at all) in any of those accounts. Of course there are also important sites such as scientific journals or job applications. Obviously, the login-thing is for security reasons – I agree on that – but why so many different sites?
Some people suggested to use an address that does not change when a new job is taken, such as g-mail. However, in particular, with this example I have doubts. Not only that the g-company knows every single query I submit, it would also know the content (!) of every single mail I send or receive. Although today the g-company might be considered as 'the good guys', nobody knows what is the case in five or ten years.
Last I would like to suggest the constitutional right of one electronic mail address per person provided by the government at the date of birth (I speak about a right, the use would not be mandatory, people could still use g-mail or equivalent). Second, I would like to suggest the constitutional right of Internet access. However, since the Internet is evolving so rapidly, it is probably hard to put such rights in juridical terms.
My point is that it is relatively easy to inform all friends and acquaintances. Even if I would forget someone, I can be found on the web. Much more complicated are all types of accounts. Why do we need to log-in for so many things? For every little thing on the web, one is requested to register, create an account and so on. Very often it is not so easy to find the actual place where to change the email address (if it is possible at all) in any of those accounts. Of course there are also important sites such as scientific journals or job applications. Obviously, the login-thing is for security reasons – I agree on that – but why so many different sites?
Some people suggested to use an address that does not change when a new job is taken, such as g-mail. However, in particular, with this example I have doubts. Not only that the g-company knows every single query I submit, it would also know the content (!) of every single mail I send or receive. Although today the g-company might be considered as 'the good guys', nobody knows what is the case in five or ten years.
Last I would like to suggest the constitutional right of one electronic mail address per person provided by the government at the date of birth (I speak about a right, the use would not be mandatory, people could still use g-mail or equivalent). Second, I would like to suggest the constitutional right of Internet access. However, since the Internet is evolving so rapidly, it is probably hard to put such rights in juridical terms.
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