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My Clarified Stand on Free WiFi
By Larry Hendrick | April 20, 2006
I feel that I need to clarify my stand on WiFi, and more particularly, free WiFi a wee bit. I am in no way against WiFi, Free WiFi, or really, really cheap WiFi. I am against any government agency getting involved in the process.
June 12, 2005, I wrote an article, Wading in on Municipal WiFi, that asked 24 questions about government involvement in the Internet business. My stance has not changed since then and the questions are still valid and most have answers that will befuddle the advocate.
I’ve heard some say the government needs to get involved because private business is not providing what they want at the price they want to pay. OK!
- My grocery bill is too high!
- My gasoline bill is too high!
- My rent payment is too high!
What is the government going to do about these travesties. Take them over and lower the prices? Force the entities to lower their prices below their true cost to deliver the item?
Do you see how ridicules that whole thing sounds?
I’ve heard others say that Internet (high speed) is a right of every citizen of the world, so cities should provide the service free. What? Do these people have any idea where the cities get the money they spend on projects? This last paragraph will require an article all it’s own to do justice to the concept that government is our nanny, so I will end on that note.
Tags: Muni Wifi, Municipal WiFi, Government, taxes
Topics: Business, Technology, WiFi |