Email system provision is unregulated in the UK.

securityguy

!!!!!! wrote: »

You would need to rewrite the RFC for internet mail. Nowhere within it does the spec even guarantee delivery let alone anything else.

You'd have to get acceptance for an RFC which promised something impossible.

Hint: the IETF isn't stupid.

InsideInsurance

vofs007 wrote: »

Keeping it simple there are two forms of innovation technical and commercial.

Because of the nature of email systems technical innovation (in general) needs international agreement (Standards approval etc) and takes a long time as you describe.

Considering the UK only commercial innovation is a simpler situation.
Most ISPs (as other posters have pointed out) provide email as a "free" add on. Now (again as other posters have pointed out) this is at a cost to ISPs. In effect this is a loss leader and has three benefits to the ISPs
a) It discourages competition
b) To a significant number of people it discourages people from moving to another supplier as they would either lose their email address or have to pay to retain it. ( I know there are ways round this but a significant number of people do not).
c) It means that users cannot complain to the ISPs ombudsman (or OFCOM) on email issues.

Because of this one of my first suggestions for a regulation is that (IN THE UK) ISPs would be required to desist from this sharp practice and charge explicitly for email instead of bundling the cost with their internet offering. Alternatively they should not supply an email service and reduce their internet price.
Ofcom made it possible for mobile users to transfer their number to another supplier. They could make it possible to transfer your email address to another supplier. (And yes I know there are ways of doing this now).

This would encourage competition and commercial innovation.

Technical does not require global agreement at all. Remember how email works client to server to server to client. Client can be webmail or an application.

Clearly there is some limitation on what you can do on the server to server aspect without cooperation but you can do plenty of things within your client and your server.

For example, my main client has recently introduced Lync into their system which is an instant messaging type tool that uses the Microsoft Exchange Server (MS's mail server) which also integrated into Outlook and provides a host of new tools/ features etc.

Ok it only works within the network but it is still "using" email. There is nothing at the moment to stop GMail or a UK based start up trying to build something similar themselves, a blend of email, instant messaging, social media etc.

Introduce your regulator though and you are then in a different position. As it uses the mail server as the interchange does it count as email for the purposes of regulation or not? Do the same legal constraints apply to it or not?

If there is a host of regulation they must ensure it obeys then it will inhibit it. It may be a worthwhile thing to invest a couple of hundred manhours into for a beta version to see if it takes off but not worth investing a couple of thousand man hours required to ensure it is a total production read/ DR covered solution without knowing if it'll take off. Of cause all those outside of the UK wouldnt be bound by the same restrictions and so can get to market quicker and cheaper.



You could put in place a rule that ISPs cannot bundle email with their web access product for the purposes of "increasing competition" but I suspect the reality is you do the exact opposite and push more people into the hands of the existing monopolies of Google and Microsoft which are both off shore and so not UK regulated

vofs007

securityguy wrote: »

What makes you think that the ISP ombudsman won't listen to ISP email issues?

a) I asked them. They blamed Ofcom.
b) I asked Ofcom. They said because it was not covered in the Communications Act 2003.
c) I suggest you read the E- Petition.

http: //epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48917 ( remove spaces)

This has been vetted for accuracy before being accepted.

vofs007

securityguy wrote: »

it's zero. BT's email is simply a rebadged version of Yahoo's. And it could never be 10m, as BT don't have 10m broadband customers.

The above is incorrect. BT have 7.09 million Broadband customers as of December 2013. Each broadband account can have 11 email addresses associated with it. You do not need to have BT Broadband to have a BT email address. My quess of 10 million email accounts is therefore a deliberate underestimate.

securityguy

A month to go, 24 signatures, only 99976 to go.

RumRat

Just had a look at the petition. However, while there I found some really worthwhile petitions to sign, so gave this one a miss, as it's not, IMO.

esuhl

The petition is pointless. Asking for something to be "regulated" without giving even a vague notion as to what you mean by that isn't going to give MPs anything to debate.

Even if you did explain what you mean on the petition, it seems that what you want is completely unnecessary anyway!

What problems have you experienced that could only be solved through legislation, vofs007?

vofs007

esuhl wrote: »

The petition is pointless. Asking for something to be "regulated" without giving even a vague notion as to what you mean by that isn't going to give MPs anything to debate.

Even if you did explain what you mean on the petition, it seems that what you want is completely unnecessary anyway!

What problems have you experienced that could only be solved through legislation, vofs007?

As things stand at the moment if you cannot resolve a dispute with your email system provider then the only escalation option open to you is to take legal action. In particular if your email provider is an ISP that subscribes to an ombudsman service then you cannot use it for an email issue. ISPs do not publicise this. The lack of regulation also means that email system providers have carte blanche to impose any terms and conditions they like on customers and are non negotiable.

debitcardmayhem

vofs007 wrote: »

As things stand at the moment if you cannot resolve a dispute with your email system provider then the only escalation option open to you is to take legal action. In particular if your email provider is an ISP that subscribes to an ombudsman service then you cannot use it for an email issue. ISPs do not publicise this. The lack of regulation also means that email system providers have carte blanche to impose any terms and conditions they like on customers and are non negotiable.

No one is forcing anyone to accept the terms and conditions, the user has the right to not accept them, what is the point of this thread.

What sort of dispute are you talking about that either needs legal action or regulation.

securityguy

vofs007 wrote: »

As things stand at the moment if you cannot resolve a dispute with your email system provider then the only escalation option open to you is to take legal action.

So rent a VPS and run it yourself. Unlike mobile telephony, it's trivial to run your own email service, and costs less than fifty quid a year.

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