More on Muni WiFi
I’ve got a couple issues with this post comparing municipal WiFi to golf courses.
First of all, are we forgetting that wealthy people pay taxes? Cities are pursuing stadiums, convention centers, and deep discount retailers by offering tax abatements, and using a public/private partnership to provide an amenity that would attract and retain people who pay taxes plus reduce the cost of providing municipal services is a bad idea?
Then there’s this bit:
Steve Titch, senior fellow at the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based research organization that focuses on social issues. “It’s kind of like golf courses. Theoretically, they’re open to all. But . . . a set of clubs costs a lot of money.”With wireless networks, “you still need an expensive laptop to see the benefits,” he said.
Spoken like a telco insider. It’s interesting to note that I don’t see any listing on the Heartland’s website disclosing their contributors. I’d also like to note that one of the articles Titch has written was developed with the New Millennium Research Council. Of the NMRC, Timothy Karr notes in his article Is Low-Cost Wi-Fi Un-American?
Too often, newspapers failed to follow the money that linked their sources at the Cato Institute and NMRC to the industry—taking at face value comments and data from these think tanks without revealing the conflicts of interest that would impugn their research.A report discrediting community Internet issued by NMRC, for example, has been cited nearly a dozen times by journalists in the two months since its release. Not a single reporter bothered to let readers in on the fact that the NMRC receives money from the same corporations whose policy positions it just happens to profess.
Back to the “expensive laptop”. I froggled usb wifi adapter and found a servicable adapter for ANY computer for $19.95
Comments?
This post was written by George, source: More on Muni WiFi
