One of the issues they mention is that that a person needed paystubs to send in to the government as documentation for their subsidized housing. Even if the government has nice paper options as a backup (around here they usually do, at least) the person will still need to get into their email. Google didn't create the problem, but unfortunately an eMail address has become a centralized point of communication for lots of things.
We probably need some sort of state-sponsored digital inbox for these kinds of documents. The thing that makes Google useful -- that it is a "reasonably" secure location to stash documents -- also makes it really easy to get locked out. There are recovery options, but it isn't obvious how a system could be secure while still allowing recovery for a user who elects to not set any recovery options up.
Perhaps the government could do a better job (at least they have things like social security cards and birth certificates, and have been dealing with the last resort case where these aren't available for longer than any of us have been alive). They also aren't constrained by things like a need to make a profit, and they don't even really need us to be able to communicate out from this inbox, it could be just a one-way channel for the reception of documents, which would avoid some annoying issues ala people using their gmails to harass others.
We probably need some sort of state-sponsored digital inbox for these kinds of documents. The thing that makes Google useful -- that it is a "reasonably" secure location to stash documents -- also makes it really easy to get locked out. There are recovery options, but it isn't obvious how a system could be secure while still allowing recovery for a user who elects to not set any recovery options up.
Perhaps the government could do a better job (at least they have things like social security cards and birth certificates, and have been dealing with the last resort case where these aren't available for longer than any of us have been alive). They also aren't constrained by things like a need to make a profit, and they don't even really need us to be able to communicate out from this inbox, it could be just a one-way channel for the reception of documents, which would avoid some annoying issues ala people using their gmails to harass others.