Free community wi-fi is a library issue
Libraries are all about access to information right? Then librarians should be talking about and advocating for municipal wireless networks. Wireless should be seen as just one more public utility (water, sewer, …) that should be supported by city governments.
Currently, 34 U.S. cities and 50 foreign cities have deployed Wi-Fi, while an additional 19 U.S. cities and 15 foreign ones have deployed more narrowly targeted “hot zones” in their urban cores, according to muniwireless.com. Here in San Diego, we have the SoCal Freenet building a wireless network in Golden Hills, with coverage planned for other areas like Bario Logan and City Heights. Perhaps the most well-known municipal wireless story is unfolding in Philadelphia, where the city is building a WiFi network, but companies like Verizon are fighting it, saying the city shouldn’t be competing with the private sector. Lessig had something to say about that in Nov, 2004. And there was a story on Talk of the Nation in April, 2005 discussing municipal wireless services with, among others, Declan McCullagh from CNet.
Unfortunately, there are bills before Congress that could bar states from allowing municipal broadband in areas served by the private sector, as well as measures to restrict the provision of municipal broadband in the 14 states that already provide it.
As the nation’s telecommunications laws are being drastically re-written (see the other recent posts on the FCC and broadband), I believe we’re seeing a codification of the digital divide. And this, my friends, is bad for libraries and really bad for citizens. Keep track of WiFi here (WiFiNetNews), here (Community Wireless), and here (Wireless Libraries).