In this increasingly electronic age, it seems almost inevitable that at some point, the United States Postal Service will become pretty much marginalized. Already there is discussion to cut back delivery days to just 5 days per week from the current 6 days.
As more and more communications and financial transactions move to online, including email, online bill payments, online statements, text messaging, blogs, etc., our mailboxes are increasingly stuffed with junk mail of the physical sort. Not surprisingly, the USPS has become dependent on marketers sending out mass mailings for it's revenue, even as it regularly increases postage rates for first class mail.
I think the USPS suffers from old school thinking and has for years missed an opportunity to truly join the electronic age beyond electronic postage. Private industry has been able to profitably develop and address various needs related to the delivery of mail and packages - FedEx, UPS, and the multitude of private mailbox services. I'm not advocating that the USPS jump in and try to compete with these for-profit enterprises. Rather I am advocating that the USPS begin to transform itself by addressing critical needs that only a government agency can fulfill in the electronic world.
As our transactional lives increasingly move online - shopping, banking, legal - some of the most critical needs remain unaddressed or simply fragmented. Privacy and identity. We, the citizens of the Internet need to protect our privacy in the fight against identity theft and worse from criminals around the world. At the same time, we need a central authority to verify our legal identities in order to bridge the real world and the online world - how do you show a government-issued "photo ID" online? Yes, there are work-around's today based on credit cards and other payment methods. However, those methods entail revealing financial information unnecessarily, and are not practical for non-financial transactions.
How much more convenient, secure and private if we had a government agency that issued the electronic versions of driver licenses and passports? Yes, there are going to be immediate objections based on the lack of confidence that a government agency could provide a secure identity service and protect the data required - but those objections can be addressed in a number of ways. Firstly, if anyone can't trust the government - they'd be foolish to trust the millions of private enterprises already issuing online accounts and collecting terabytes of personal information online. Secondly, the agency is only issuing the electronic equivalent of birth certificates, passports and driver licenses - information that already exists with government agencies across the globe. Thirdly, this service would initially be voluntary and controlled by the individual - that is, you don't need to have one issued to you, and if you do, you control how you use it online - i.e. who you show your electronic government issued ID to.
The reason that the USPS is the agency to do this is that they already have access to physical addresses and identities. For example, for security reasons, anyone opening a post office box to receive mail are required to show government-issued ID. Many post offices also process passport applications.
The issuance of an electronic government-issued ID begins with verifying the identity in the physical world with an in-person meeting with supporting government-issued ID such as driver license, birth certificate, passport - similar to getting a document notarized. Once the identity of a person is verified, an electronic identity can be issued in the form of an online account.
This online account would have an email account associated with it for official communications. Unlike private accounts - each individual can have only one account. The account also comes with a private-public key for encryption for secure transmission of data to and from the individual.
This unique and verified online identity would be a major obstacle to identity theft, and would enable a completely simplified and more secure paradigm of online transaction. If the USPS were to deploy such a service - it would become a pillar of security online, making it vital and relevant in forseeable future.
With this universal, government-issued online ID, there would be no need to disclose personal information to any party that is not needed for a particular transaction or interaction. It would be legally defensible - that is, digital signatures that can be verified with the government. This ID would also enable a multitude of public and private capabilities - including online voting. The use of the online ID can also enable a centralized directory for both online and physical mail that would not require disclosing personal data - it would, in effect, make the USPS the trusted middleman to deliver mail (electronic or physical) with simple ID. Address a piece of mail with just the ID address and the USPS will ensure delivery to the recipient's current address - whether physical or virtual. Individuals can update their information anytime when they move - and the USPS system will automatically deliver to the new address. This is a system that can be highly automated.
