
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Google Wi-Fi in NYC
![]() Comments
Re: Google Wi-Fi in NYC
by
carton
at 07:14PM (EDT) on Sep 28, 2005 | Permanent Link
The last time I checked, the Bryant Park free
wireless was run by nycwireless.net, a non-profit that put the public's
interest first. They:
The coverage was good, and the network reliable. They are the right people to be in control of the network in a public park, and they were doing a good job. If Google has replaced them, I'll be very disappointed. However, it looks like this has not happened. AFAICT, the network is the same one that was always there, the one that nycwireless built in 2001. http://www.technolosophy.com/projects/bryantpark.html Google is just ``sponsoring'' it. Hopefully their sponsorship won't include altering the design principles that made Bryant Park a national model for successful free-as-in-freedom Internet access. If so, I appreciate that they chose this network to sponsor. It suggests they ``get it,'' because Bryant Park is a very unique and ambitious public wireless. If Google's sponsorship has somehow given them any kind of power over the network, then I'd much rather the NYC city taxes that I pay support this network and keep it free and anonymous, than have Google's Central Committee roll out their shady data mining activities and notoriously non-transparent governance. The City needs Bryant Park wireless as-is to prove irrefutably again and again what is possible. Pundits and planners continually assert that anonymous Internet access is impossible, but so far we can point to Bryant Park which has been running quite well since 2001 to show that yes, free anonymous speech on the Internet is sustainable. I, for one, value it greatly and consider it an important part of what our city stands for. Trackbacks
TrackBack URL: Weblogs that reference this article:
|
Recent Articles
Check out these blogs....
Search
|