Gmail is part of the chain of technology that lets me communicate, so I think a comparison with a telco is fair.
Also there could be a distinction in the law for mass communication, e.g. #users > 1M.
> Gmail is part of the chain of technology that lets me communicate, so I think a comparison with a telco is fair.
And it's actually harder to switch to a secondary. With my ISP, if they cut me off I can fall back on my cell provider within minutes. I have no such failover for my Google services.
In the event that becomes reality, the time would have to be taken to define what minimum level of services the web site would have to offer. Simply saying Google must keep X service available would be archaic. Would other email providers be exempt from having to maintain these rights? If your job gave you an email address, would they have to maintain it after you leave the company? These are probably contrived questions, but ones that would certainly have to be answered first.