IP: EFF: Joins Wireless Crusade, New Project Tracks Wireless-Friendly Service Providers

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 25, 2002


Contact:

Fred von Lohmann
    Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
    Electronic Frontier Foundation
    fred () eff org
    +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell)


Electronic Frontier Foundation Joins Wireless Crusade

New Project Tracks Wireless-Friendly Service Providers

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
today posted a list of Internet service providers (ISPs)
that allow customers to share wireless Internet access with
their neighbors and passers-by through the use of low-cost
wireless hubs.

Wireless community networks provide Internet services to
anyone in the vicinity of a wireless hub in the network
without all participants having to sign up with a
traditional Internet Service Provider (ISP). This
relatively new and grassroots phenomenon democratizes
access to Internet services and helps to span the digital
divide by providing anyone within the physical vicinity
access to the Internet. In more concentrated wireless
service areas, wireless networks provide seamless Internet
connectivity to people who travel through a geographical
area.

"Sharing wireless access is a valuable community
service, but many ISPs don't see it that way," said EFF
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann.
"Some, like New York's Time Warner Cable, have begun
enforcing radical terms of service that let them sue
customers who share wireless access."

"There's a huge demand for the freedom to operate community
wireless access points," von Lohmann added. "We're making
sure people have the information to make informed decisions
when they choose their ISPs and identifying vendors who can
provide that service."

Wireless community networks are an explosive phenomenon,
with millions of wireless cards sold in the US every year.
One community wireless network group, NYC Wireless, provided
critical infrastructure after the September 11th tragedy.
Just as today's amateur radio operators backstop emergency
services in times of need, so will tomorrow's community
"freenets" form a bulwark against disaster.


For this release:
http://www.eff.org/Infra/Wireless_cellular_radio/20020725_eff_wireless_pr.ht
ml

List of community-wireless-friendly ISPs:
http://www.eff.org/Infra/Wireless_cellular_radio/wireless_friendly_isp_list.
html 



About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to
websites in the world at
http://www.eff.org/

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