-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Saturday 09 March 2002 07:25 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> This week, I sent the link to this article and another to the list, > asking if we could get these internet high speed links established in > Mpls neighborhoods. No bites, not even someone saying I'm an idiot. Okay, I'll bite. > Where are you techies on this? I guess I count as a techie. I regularly read tech news before regular news, often stay up late programming, rely heavily on technical skills for my living, and have had more than one programmer call me a "geek". So hopefully I've got a background on the issues. Keep in mind I have a serious bias about the proper role of government in private business. *grin* We already have two available forms of high speed internet in Minneapolis, DSL and cable. I personally did not find DSL to be a workable option. Cable on the other hand was a breeze to obtain and quite affordable (compared to dialup and trying to maintain a second line). Are there parts of the City which have neither of these options available? Isn't wireless networking in Minneapolis a solution without a problem? Most people do not need high speed access and should look at some of our city's premier dialup providers, like Bitstream and Visi (or a host of others). Their services are quite affordable. Therefore --contrary to the assertions of people like Democrat Senator Fritz Hollings of Disney, er South Carolina (1)-- government should do *nothing* to encourage the spread of high speed internet or internet access in general, except maybe deregulate the cable industry or regulate it such that a company like TimeWarner or AT&T will actually have some real competition in the markets. One assumes that real competition (not some willy-nilly deregulation such as caused the CA energy crisis) would lower prices-- seems to work for gas stations and other commodities sellers. And I do *not* mean deregulation like what is done with Qwest and the smaller telephone companies. That is a horror story wherein the smaller companies are entirely dependent on Qwest for there ability to serve their own customers, the footing is nowhere near equal, and the market is basically Qwest's by default. I know a hardcore anti-big-business fanatic who switched back to Qwest after it became clear to him that local phone service through a second company was dependent on Qwest for service (resulting in poor service) and because a significant portion of his bill ended up in Qwest coffers anyway. Personally, my only problem with my cable service is that it is run by a huge corporation whom I don't necessarily care to support beyond cable service (which is excellent). If I had the option to buy from a smaller, local company and get the same level of service (even at a slightly higher price) I would "vote with my feet". But I can't, not if I want the kind of access I have-- which is vastly superior for my needs/wants/budget than dialup was. Also to consider is the fact that 802.11, the protocol mentioned in the NYT article, is prone to security vulnerabilities as it is easy to leave your network open to public access or abuse (http://online.securityfocus.com/news/192). Given the enormous problems we've had in the last couple of years from "default" settings in some widespread Microsoft products (intended to make things easier to use), I'm wary of spreading something like 802.11 any more than necessary, unless it is made very secure *before* installation and requires hard work on the part of users and administrators to get into an insecure state. In fact, if you read the very article you forwarded, they seem to point out what a problem this is-- how it allows theft of computing resources and so forth. The first guy they quote in the article was stealing bandwidth from an unwitting neighbor whom he did not even know! This is the equivalent of my neighbor running a line into my house and plugging it into my ethernet hub without my knowledge or permission! Tax money should not be used to provide internet service, except in the context of libraries (and even then I have to wonder if the usage is actually within the scope of the library's mission or if we are providing free access to games and chat rooms and email-- how about some free access to snail mail so that when I write my state senators it doesn't cost me 34 cents a letter. Wellstone and Dayton ignore email, even when you use their lousy web form to send it). In fact, because your proposal seems to be funded with tax money, it makes more sense to me just to reduce taxes and let consumers buy their own access, it's very affordable (I've heard that dialup is available for as little as $10/month). What if tax-payers don't want to buy computers to use this free network access, can they get books with the tax money instead? What about those of us who have been paying for internet access on our own for years? Can I get some sort of tax credit for providing this service to my household myself? In fact, there's your answer: instead of providing administratively top-heavy neighborhood ISPs, just have a $10 or $20 per month credit or deduction (not to exceed the actual amount paid) to any household paying for internet access. You could also allow persons such as myself a tax credit or deduction (for the monthly service and for the initial cost of equipment/installation) for maintaining a high-speed connection with a wireless node (so that my neighbors have access through me). None of these tax schemes require me to attend neighborhood meetings to decide how my tax money is spent. If I and my neighbors have tax credits and some initiative, then we get to decide directly how to spend that money. --Michael Libby, Cleveland/North Mpls. - - FOOTNOTE (1) Please see http://www.ichimunki.com/cgi-bin/waka.cgi/Fritz%20Hollings/rant/20020228 for a text copy of Senator Hollings recent speech which he states at the beginning that he aims to assist both high-speed ISPs and media "content" providers in selling both their high-speed access (which he claims there is plenty of in many areas) and their content. I wonder when he'll pass some laws that will help me sell my product that nobody wants. - -- ______Michael_C_Libby__{_x_(at)_ichimunki_(dot)_com_}______ | "even monkeys fall from trees" : "saru mo ki kara ochiru" | | private hotmail/yahoo email is deleted unread due to spam | |____ public key at http://www.ichimunki.com/public.key ____| -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE8i2U24ClW9KMwqnMRAsnUAJwMyaJsQ2+EILJuMORIL8N9yPB9NQCfXSp7 lhk+EJsXhVtuwgbYfz0zIkc= =zg8m -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
