Free Nationwide WiFi

[Tinman57]

[ And of course us taxpayers would be paying for it all....]

Is a free nationwide WiFi network coming to the U.S.?
The U.S. government proposed a massive public WiFi network that's causing excitement for some industries, anxiety for others.

As you can imagine, support of the proposal is split between two major industries. On the one hand, the telecomm industry is lobbying the government to keep those airwaves in the hands of businesses.

Tech giants like Google and Microsoft, however, see a nationwide public WiFi network as a catalyst for innovation (and increased sales of their products). Though Google, at least, isn’t waiting for the government to act to offer free public WiFi. In New York City, the company recently launched free public WiFi in the Chelsea neighborhood.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/is-a-free-nationwide-wifi-network-coming-to-the-us/11994

[rgdot]

At the risk of making this a basement thread.
Would you rather pay for weapons or this? Not that it will really ever happen but still. Leaving it to corporations is of course an option but you will be paying for it in that case too because there is no chance in hell that would be free for ever, via Google or whoever

[40hz]

Wow! Uncle Sam as your friendly and free wireless ISP?

Hmm...look at it this way: if the government owns a public wifi network, it can pretty much do and monitor anything it wants on it. And all without an authorizing law, warrant or finding. So long there's wording in the TOS that says any "use of" or "information transmitted" over the network may be monitored and recorded, they have carte blanche.

But on the positive side, this idea may also provoke some positive changes in the way the telcos and big ISPs are doing business.

Maybe all those arbitrary and pointless data caps will finally fade into memory should Uncle Sam start providing free bandwidth to the masses.

[Renegade]

[attachimg=#]



...and this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42665617@N07/6261894730/

[mwb1100]

if it's free, you're not the customer, you're the product

Does this apply to Linux and other open source software?

[Renegade]

if it's free, you're not the customer, you're the product

Does this apply to Linux and other open source software?

That is an excellent observation/comment.

I think the answer there is "it depends".

There's an intentional component behind any action, and that is an important factor.

I think your observation may apply to Canonical, though you'd be better off asking someone who knows more about them, e.g. 40hz.

For a lot of other FLOSS software, I'd say no. The motivations there are not commercial and there is no real commercial component.

It also applies to some non-GNU GPL licenses, e.g. Mozilla, Apache, BSD, WTFPL, etc. I think most of those kinds of licenses are not conducive to the type of exploitation that you find in the "free as in no money" free software/service world, e.g. Facebook, etc.

You can commercialize even public domain materials. This is in part what Aaron Swartz was up to - taking public domain materials back to the public.

So, it's not like there's anything that isn't open to abuse - anything can be turned to a negative purpose. Some things are simply more prone to abuse than others, e.g. When was the last time you heard about anyone abusing baking soda or dish washing liquid?

[Stoic Joker]

When was the last time you heard about anyone abusing baking soda

Does cutting you coke with it count?

[Renegade]

When was the last time you heard about anyone abusing baking soda

Does cutting you coke with it count?

Hahahaha~!

Oh god... sigh... Yeah, I suppose that I'm just not all that up-to-date on self-destructive behaviour...

Guess that really does go to show that you really *CAN* abuse anything!

[Edvard]

It happened in my backwater hometown quite a few years ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/opinion/07kristof.html?ex=1124078400&en=ab2bd0a4499e9466&ei=5070&emc=eta1&_r=0
https://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/10/18/high_speed_internet_among_the_onions/
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2004/02/23/story2.html

Haven't heard a peep about it since then, and my folks never knew it existed (big surprise), so I don't know if it's still up or if the whole program collapsed under it's own weight once the watermelon farmer's kids discovered pr0n and Warcraft, dunno.  Interesting case study, though.

[nite_monkey]

If free wifi appears where I live, I'm not going anywhere near it with any of my hardware. Not after watching hak5! Who knows how many "pineapples" I might run into.

[40hz]

asking someone who knows more about them, e.g. 40hz.

40hz has nothing positive to say about Mark Shuttleworth or Canonical any more. They are fallen angels AFAIC.

I consider their recent behaviors to be some of the most potentially disruptive threats ever facing Linux in particular and F/OSS as a whole.

[Tinman57]

Can the FCC Create Public "Super WiFi Networks"?

Contrary to some recent suggestions in the media, the government is not creating its own "super WiFi network." But its plans will indeed make awesome new WiFi networks possible. Technically, what the FCC is actually trying to do is increase the amount of open spectrum that is available for WiFi networks of all sorts, and for other "unlicensed" uses. This is a very good idea. Increasing the amount of unlicensed spectrum will lead to better functioning routers, tablets, laptops, and smartphones--and to a host of other new products in the marketplace.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/02/fcc-public-super-wifi-networks

[Joe Hone]

Free Wifi was added to my old hometown of Riverside, California in 2007 - available to about 300,000 people. When I go back to visit I take along my laptop and find that it works quite well, has minimal ads, and the speed is about average when compared to airports, restaurants, etc. There isn't much discussion about municipality cost locally, it is just there if you want to tie into it. A good idea/service in my opinion. If a national service had similar performance I'd use it.

[barney]

Oh god... sigh... Yeah, I suppose that I'm just not all that up-to-date on self-destructive behaviour...

Naw, you just stick you fist(s) through car windows  .  (Ever see the beginning of Karate Kid II?)

Free national wi-fi would scare me silly - sillier? - because of the snooping/tracking/tracing capabilities.  I won't connect to wi-fi at local shops.  And I'm hesitant even to use my phone as a tether.  (Yeah, I know I'm paranoid ... I just wonder if I'm paranoid enough.  And I'm aware that can happen via my ISP  .)  Federal/state/local free wi-fi is so open to governmental abuse - at any level! - that 'twould seem to be anathema.

[Carol Haynes]

When was the last time you heard about anyone abusing baking soda or dish washing liquid?

LOL very true - but in the UK you can no longer buy Tartaric Acid (an ingredient used for making drinks like elderflower cordial). Apparently it was used in the London Tube bombers arsenal - along with chapatti flower - though I haven't noticed a shortage of chapattis !!