[NNagain] Email and The Internet?

[Jack Haverty <jack@3kitty.org>]

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On 2/22/24 05:39, Dave Taht via Nnagain wrote:
> I do hope that
> email makes a comeback.
>
> But someones need to start maintaining it better.

Someone?

In the 1980s, I was very involved in the early Internet.  At the time, 
it was funded by the US government, and the policy-makers and 
technologists were tightly coupled.   If we didn't build what they 
needed, the funding would stop.   Simple and effective feedback loop.

At the time, electronic mail was probably the most important service for 
the end-users.  People didn't send datagrams to each other. They sent 
email.   Email had to work or the Internet was useless.

A lot of effort was put into making sure that email worked, such as the 
"Mailbridges" that were crucial components of the Defense Data Network 
as it emerged from the research world.   Policy-makers and technologists 
were pursuing a common mission.   The people who funded,or built, or 
operated the various pieces of The Internet felt responsible, and were 
responsible, for all the Internet elements necessary for the end users 
to use the net.

Forty years later, email has degenerated.  Why?

Question -- is Email now still an important component of Internet 
service?  Do IXPs believe they have a responsibility to make sure email 
works?

Who is "someone"?

Jack Haverty


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