A commentary about municipal wi-fi from Stanford Law School's Jennifer
Granick on Wired.com... -ac
Don't Let Fear Kill Muni Wi-Fi
Plans are afoot in Philadelphia and Huntsville, Alabama, as well as my
hometown of San Francisco, to provide residents with low-cost or free
wireless internet access. It's a great idea whose time has come, like
drinking fountains, public toilets and park benches. But last week, the
San Francisco Chronicle reported that my city's mayor expects a legal
challenge from internet service providers like SBC and Comcast, who
presumably prefer every San Franciscan to pay a monthly access fee.
Obviously, ISPs fear competition from a free service. But people pay for
bottled water, music downloads, open-source operating systems and
printed versions of free blogs. Companies can still make money in cities
with public Wi-Fi by selling even faster service or bundling
connectivity with subscriptions, software or support.
<snip>
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,69175,00.html
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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
http://katrina05.blogspot.com
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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