I spend a lot of my time in the digital world. Most of the sites and activities I participate in are mediated by private companies with profit incentives, designed to make me buy products or purchase subscriptions. This marketing permeates nearly all the media I consume; very little of it comes from public or government sources. We often compare the government sites as extremely poor compared to private sites, but looking at these sites in a different way, it's possible to imagine a future where government can serve a fundamentally different purpose.

At its core, government is a risk management system. It provides an extremely valuable set of public goods—ranging from fire departments and road maintenance to public parks and national security. The government maintains these services through our communal taxes and economic growth. 

Applying this concept to the digital world, the government could create public digital infrastructure. While private companies constantly compete for your attention—using the ad based model explored in my Technological Flywheel blog post—the government operates on what is essentially a core subscription model. You pay yearly taxes for a suite of services and accommodations. 

By applying this model to the public digital infrastructure, the government could ensure universal internet access, establish baseline cybersecurity practices (such as secure digital identities for seamless data portability), and create digital spaces free from the constant battle for your attention. Secure messaging, local newsletters or community digital art spaces are just a few options. To be successful, however, these systems must be locally rooted and prioritize quality over quantity.