[fangorn]

Maybe it's nothing, or maybe it's freudian, but email existed before Google, so did calendar. Youtube was an acquisition. Maps, well, there are great alternatives now that do not require anal-probe-level surveillance to find an address or a route.

Just publicly fund the services that are useful to people. If "government" (i.e. us) can pay for a square for people to meet at, why not "digital spaces"?

And if someone's thinking "but government will use this data to surveil people!" - this ship has sailed, they have access to everything that's not e2ee, and even that's not guaranteed.

Government is practically the only body that can be expected to follow laws and act with people's best interest in mind. Some governments even do, just need a non-dystopian one...

And yes, there's commercial space in government/local authority-operated places. That's fine, just make sure to boot those that decide to install the equivalent of cameras and microphones on their storefront.

[cscurmudgeon]

> Youtube was an acquisition

And the relied on VC money before that. It wasn't self-sustaining financially.