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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Talk about a tempest in a teapot. Jeez you folks...
how about a cold shower of reality here?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>A) Municipal Wifi does not equal Free Wifi. With the
exception of a few small communities, a city-wide wifi project on the scale of
Minneapolis or Saint Paul will never be free to either the end users like you
and me, nor to the cities themselves. From what I hear about proposals for
the Mpls project, end users will have to pay a fee, just like they do to use
wireless at Starbucks and Caribou, and that fee will be more than typical DSL
broadband service.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>B) Municipal Wifi is a glitzy, technical solution to a
political problem that doesn't exist (yet). There are hundreds of ways for
citizens to get involved in democracy without using a mouse. I find the
prospect of providing access to democracy through a communication channel that
requires at least some investment up front to defeat the purpose. You have
to have money to own computers. You have to have money to buy internet
connectivity. You have to have money to at least buy the coffee at Dunn
Brothers to use their wireless, and most places charge much more.
Democracy (little d) should not be limited to those with credit
card$.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>C) Municipal Wifi isn't going to destroy small ISP's.
Wifi, just in case you hadn't noticed, is just a networking methodology and not
a very good one at that. It's slow, it's unreliable, and it's insecure as
hell. Somebody has to provide the link up to the cloud on the back end,
and carping about about "communism" sounds more like someone who wasn't there
when the contracts were being signed.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=426123013-23062005><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Now - Municipal WiMax...that's a whole different ball of
wax. Give us ten years of technology growth with corresponding drops in
Wimax NIC prices, and then maybe you've got something that'll border on a true
community effort. </FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> tcwug-list-bounces@tcwug.org
[mailto:tcwug-list-bounces@tcwug.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Jessica
Bennett<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 23, 2005 6:36 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
tcwug-list@tcwug.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [tcwug-list] THURS: International
E-Democracy Event<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><!-- Converted from text/enriched format -->
<DIV>This seems totally on topic to me, and knee-jerk conservative attacks seem
like the crap I'd like to see off the list.<FONT face=Helvetica> </DIV>
<DIV></FONT></DIV><BR>
<DIV>On Jun 23, 2005, at 4:09 AM, Matthew S. Hallacy wrote: </DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>Some might also say that municipal wifi is communist. How about we </DIV>
<DIV>keep this crap off the list? </DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV>On Thu, Jun 23, 2005 at 02:36:12AM -0500, Tim Erickson wrote: </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>At 2:00 AM -0500 6/23/05, <mgenelin@fastcomputerserviceco.com>
wrote: </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>With all due respect, is this on-topic for this list? What does this
have </DIV>
<DIV>to </DIV>
<DIV>do with WiFi? </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<DIV>Good point. I should have elaborated. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>In attending conferences and meetings on E-Democracy or </DIV>
<DIV>E-Deliberation, I'm finding increasing interest in the issue of </DIV>
<DIV>municipal WiFi projects, such as what is being proposed in </DIV>
<DIV>Minneapolis (and also St. Paul). </DIV><BR>
<DIV>Some might say, that municipal WiFi systems are the infrastructure
</DIV>
<DIV>for the E-Democracy of the future (or at least one possibility). I
</DIV>
<DIV>know, that as a member of E-Democracy.Org - I'm very interested in
</DIV>
<DIV>the WiFi project being proposed in St. Paul and feel as if this is
</DIV>
<DIV>something that E-Democracy activists need to pay close attention to.
</DIV><BR>
<DIV>Its been my impression, that this group is very interested in public
</DIV>
<DIV>accessible WiFi networks. To me, this is very relevant to the work
</DIV>
<DIV>that I do in the field of E-Democracy. That's why I've followed this
</DIV>
<DIV>list for the last year or two. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>I know at least one of the guests at this International E-Democracy
</DIV>
<DIV>event is very interested in city wide WiFi networks and would love to
</DIV>
<DIV>chat about what is happening in Mpls. Bob Carlitz of Information </DIV>
<DIV>Renaissance. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>I hope that this helps, </DIV><BR>
<DIV>Tim Erickson </DIV>
<DIV>E-Democracy.Org </DIV>
<DIV>651-643-0722 </DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV>-- </DIV>
<DIV>================================================= </DIV>
<DIV>Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com </DIV>
<DIV>St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722 </DIV>
<DIV>tim@politalk.com iChat/AIM: stpaultim </DIV>
<DIV>================================================= </DIV><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV>_______________________________________________ </DIV>
<DIV>Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul,
</DIV>
<DIV>Minnesota </DIV>
<DIV>tcwug-list@tcwug.org </DIV>
<DIV>http://mailman.tcwug.org/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list
</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<DIV>-- </DIV>
<DIV>Matthew S. Hallacy </DIV>
<DIV>http://www.poptix.net GPG public key 0x01938203 </DIV><BR>
<DIV>_______________________________________________ </DIV>
<DIV>Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Minnesota </DIV>
<DIV>tcwug-list@tcwug.org </DIV>
<DIV>http://mailman.tcwug.org/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list
</DIV><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>