Andy Kessler’s got a great piece on the eco-politics of muni wifi.
-
Archives
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- May 2011
- March 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- August 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
-
Meta
At Teleread I blogged about a plan from the Dutch Socialist Party, which wants to make sure text books are gratis for families. As I wrote there, our minister of education is against this plan, and this might be because she fears unfair competition from the government for the publishers.
I don’t see why we should worry about crowding out private investment. Incumbents can market to consumers based on service, like speed and bandwidth, or by offering package deals with their other products. Wireless, more so than physical pipes, can accomodate multiple lines, so this should be encouraged. And without monopolists, there wouldn’t be the type of rent-seeking that Verizon and Comcast are currently doing. Not to mention having to suffer the consequences of not making broadband reasonably available to working families in the first place.
I think a municipal communications network could be beneficial, but I worry about censorship and wiretapping. A well run government network could easily drive profit seeking competitors out of an area. That isn’t so bad; if a corporation can’t provide a superior product or a lower cost then they serve no purpose. That is, until the government starts to restrict access to “bad” sites or claims (as they do so often with public roads) that they have the right to record, inspect and regulate your activities using their network without probable cause. If there is no alternative to the municipal network then we will have exchanged our liberties for a cheaper network. I would feel a lot better if the network came with legislation prohibiting lawmakers from enacting such restrictions and some condition (such as requiring a refferendum to repeal) that prevents lawmakers from just rescinding the prohibition as they bring the restrictions on line.
There is absolutely no need for hot spots. There is absolutely no need for laptops. They can be replaced by mobile handsets that can send text messages. All that is needed is the development of a server side browser that functions under a new set of roles. The new role would be to process the data received from the client itself instead of sending any files to the client as at present. when this is done a cellphone could be used to send the necessary data to the server that would process the data.
This would end the need for RIAA to sue those it accuses of piracy since piracy would become imposssible. there would be no need for the Congress to act. Further if these music pirates were rich capable of defending the law suites RIAA would not be suing anybody.