FC: Wireless community networks vs. corporate ones, by Annalee Newitz

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 13:50:48 -0700
From: "Annalee Newitz" <Annalee () sfbg com>
To: <declan () well com>

Hi Declan. I think folks will be interested in a techno-political issue 
brewing in San Francisco which touches on many of the problems faced by 
wireless community groups who want to work with their local city 
governments. Here's my story on how San Francisco's cable franchise deal 
with AT&T threatens our burgeoning community wireless networks . . .

Broadband to the people!
Wireless community networks challenge corporate control of Internet access.

By Annalee Newitz
IT ALL STARTED with a can of Safeway-brand beef ravioli. Jim Meehan, a San 
Francisco network engineer, had been reading on Slashdot 
(www.slashdot.org), the geek news site of record, about how to build a 
homemade antenna for his computer. The heart of the contraption was an 
ordinary metal can. "They recommended using Malley's beef stew for the can, 
but the ravioli was cheaper," Meehan confesses. After some tinkering and 
tests, Meehan discovered his home-brewed antenna was far from ordinary: 
indeed, it's possible Meehan's humble ravioli can, combined with the 
know-how of a few hundred community-minded geeks, could dramatically reduce 
the cost of high-speed Internet access for everyone in San Francisco. In 
some cases, access might even become free.
. . .
And that's not good news for companies like AT&T. Because Meehan isn't the 
only one who can surf the Web with a tin-can antenna: in fact, anyone with 
an unobstructed view of Meehan's house can point one of these cheap devices 
at it and share his high-speed Internet access - for free. If the practice 
spreads - and Meehan hopes it will - why would anyone want to pay for 
expensive Internet service from companies like AT&T?
That is exactly what AT&T is afraid you'll ask, and it's why the company 
and others like it have taken steps to block their customers from setting 
up publicly accessible wireless networks like Meehan's. Since, under AT&T's 
franchise agreement with the city of San Francisco, the corporation will 
soon own most of the fiber-optic cable that provides speedy Internet 
service to the city, AT&T's policies could spell doom for the city's 
burgeoning wireless community networks.
Or, if city officials intervene, the nonprofit, grassroots wireless 
networks could spell doom for AT&T's monopoly . . .

http://www.sfbg.com/36/37/cover_wireless.html

Annalee Newitz
Culture Editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian
www.techsploitation.com




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