From carrier pigeons to email that won't let you leave home

Email goes 'neopostal': tied to your home

Yesterday, a user tried to open a document from their dentist on their phone while away from home. Impossible. The email security system demanded they be at their usual location, link a phone number validated from elsewhere, or pass an ID verification. They had to go back home to gain access. The anecdote illustrates a growing phenomenon: email, designed to be universal, is turning into a service bound to a physical place — a kind of digital neopostalism.

The reason is security, but the result is that the promise of reaching your inbox from any device and any corner of the world has been broken. It's not just one company: both Gmail and Outlook have been rolling out multifactor authentication, location verification and device restrictions. The claim that it's all voluntary clashes with reality: more and more services and official procedures require using these providers.

Anyone defending the classic password is up against a system that doesn't trust it. Running your own email domain is an option, but it takes technical know-how and maintenance. Most people would rather complain than migrate. Meanwhile, services that were once synonymous with freedom now require you to keep your phone glued to you — and switched on — to receive a verification SMS. As one comment online puts it: in the end, you're better off getting a bicho or a hacker than dealing with these anti-hacking systems.

Email, which killed the letter, is now imitating its limitations. The paradox is complete: security has turned the most open tool into a shackle. And while users bend over and take it, email companies keep adding locks.