[IP] Should Municipalities Get in the Wi-Fi Business?
------- Original message -------
From: Andrew Lippman <lip@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 20/4/'05, 7:32
Most of the hackers who comment on municipal broadband are used to
delving into the lower level code and hardware of anything that comes
their way to tweak it and get it to work. To us, 802.11 is a license
to explore. The beneficial result of this is turnkey Wifi, and a full
catalogue of parts from which to choose. The bottom line is that
anyone can be a broadband provider -- no IT department required. Same
as not hiring a filmmaker for your daughter's Bat-Mitzvah. Jump in,
the waters fine.
A key reason why a city ought to think about this: the main difference
between licensed and unlicensed radio is that for the former, the
licenseholder is in the driver's seat. He has paid for the right to
exclude others, and he is often supported by laws that favor letting
him build a system.
For unlicensed, the property owner is in charge. The radio works
wherever you own the real estate on which to site your antennae. And
the FCC is loathe to interfere with property rights. Recent exceptions
expand the resident's rights (you can put Wifi in you apartment, the
landlord cannot prevent it.)
This is important for a city. Instead of leasing or selling the
property, it can use its own. The alternative is having your city
carve out places for private parties to do it. Would you lease the
Grand Canyon to Verizon? Or would you rather the Park Service keep it
and plant a few radios? Do you want your streets given away? Why not
hold in common what we hold as a common good?
As far as the comparisons with the motor vehicle department go, they
are specious and not based in fact. Sure, it was once true that
bureaucracies were terribly run and obstreperous. But Gore fixed that.
The government really is re-engineered and far more responsive. There
are many reasons, including outsourcing some functions, and that is not
the point of this note. However, it is important to distinguish
between pithy myth and reality. A city can run a network and has good
reasons to consider it.
Andy Lippman
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