A computer-savvy Australian MP wants the government to stop being the nation’s biggest junk-mailer and become its biggest spammer instead.
Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull, who made a killing when he sold his stake in Australia’s biggest internet service provider, wants every Australian to be given an e-mail address that would last them from the cradle to the grave.
”For a relatively modest cost and over time, starting with the young and e-savvy, the Australian government could offer to provide every Australian with an electric mail box or pigeon hole,” Turnbull said. ”This would be similar to an e-mail account, but it would be unique and it would be permanent.”
The federal and state government, banks, pension funds and, yes, issuers of traffic infringements could reach citizens no matter where they live, what internet provider they use or where they work.
”Every year, the Australian government spends hundreds of millions of dollars sending paper communications to Australians,” the former lawyer and investment banker said. ”Many of them are lost, many of them are mislaid, many of them, perhaps most of them, are never read.”
Turnbull suggested a format for the lifetime e-mail address: [email protected].
”No matter where you moved or how often you changed your regular e-mail address, that pigeon hole would always be yours,” he said.
”Because it is a virtual pigeon hole, it would be accessible from anywhere there is access to the internet, which nowadays is almost any place on Earth.”
Some might see a downside in the initiative as it would no longer be possible to claim tax returns and parking fine demands had gone missing in the post. — Sapa-DPA