Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

Wi-Fi run by cities: Yea or nay?

Harold Feld of the Media Access Project (a media access advocacy organization) squared off against Tom Lenard of the Progress and Freedom Foundation (a free market economic think tank) in a debate about municipal WiFi.

Feld argues that municipal WiFi is an infrastructural necessity on par with roads. Lenard says the private sector should do it and that municipalities will invariably raise taxes to “subsidize” the networks.

I’m obviously on Feld’s side here. Free or highly subsidized municipal internet access is a great boon for both private citizens AND business. And this is one time where corporate welfare will also benefit citizens.

The thing that really irks me about Lenard’s argument is his reliance on the specious “taxes” argument. This anti-tax stance has led to the starvation of local and state governments and the destruction of our local infrastructures, education etc. According to the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the average and Marginal Effective Tax Rates of the US are already +10% lower than any EU countries (29.4% in the US compared to Germany’s 52%, France’s 48.3%, and UK’s 31.1% — you may need to visit an academic library to access these statistics). And I won’t even get into GDP.

So, we could afford to raise our taxes a small percentage point in order to have better schools, better roads, and of course municipal WiFi networks. There are some things that should be not-for-profit and Wifi certainly fits into that category!

See as background, “Let There Be Wi-Fi” By Robert McChesney and John Podesta.

ABA Journal: Librarians Lead Legal Battles Over the Patriot Act, Copyright, Tech Issues

All right! Just as the American Bar Association writes that ALA is becoming a force to be reckoned with as Òone of the most active players in legal fights over technology, copyright, national security, censorship and privacy lawÓ, I ran across this resolution CD #20.7 (which was a bitch to find on ALA’s website; when are they switching over to a new CMS and will it be open-source?!) passed at ALA’s Annual conference in Chicago regarding wireless broadband.

I’m so glad ALA has a dog in this fight. Here’s what I’d like to see in any municipal WiFi system:

1) Low or *preferably* no cost WiFi access (low = less than $10/month). Costs should be covered by the businesses using the network to conduct business, not by the citizens accessing the network. Citizens *should not* have to subsidize businesses more than they already are! There could also be an addition of 1/4 cent (or some small fraction, I haven’t worked out the math) on the municipal sales tax devoted specifically to supporting the network.

2) Low or no barriers to accessing the network. This means not having to fill in forms, give personal information, or any of that stuff. We should just be able to turn on our computers and connect, securely and privately!

3) Support for low-income families including computer training and heavily subsidized laptop purchases. The Digital Divide will not go away unless ALL of us pitch in to assure that ALL of us have access to the “information society”.

RESOLVED, the American Library Association support legislation, including S.1294, that protects the rights of municipal governments to provide broadband wireless networks to their communities;

and be it further RESOLVED that, the American Library Association oppose H.R. 2726 because it denies municipal governments the right to locally determine broadband deployment thus making
broadband wireless development the exclusive purview of corporate entities;

be it further RESOLVED that, the American Library Association encourage its state chapters, affiliates and others in the library community to monitor and participate in debates on state legislation or policy proposals in order to ensure that local governments are not prohibited from providing broadband wireless networks to their residents, businesses and educational institutions;

and be it further RESOLVED that, the American Library Association continue to work with allies and
coalitions, such as the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties to preserve local governmentsÕ rights to determine how broadband wireless deployment is to be instituted within their communities and institutions.

[Thanks Jessamyn!]