I was reading about the politics and corporate in-fighting involved in the Wireless Philadelphia project and I think that the politicians in that city have it all wrong. Looking west, they can see the plan in San Francisco has all of the advantages that their plan doesn’t have…for one, wireless access will be free in San Francisco. Google’s plan is to blanket the city with wireless service and allow advertising to pay the bill. (This year, Google will sell $6.1 billion in ads, nearly double what it sold last year. According to those in the know, that is more advertising than is sold by any newspaper chain, magazine publisher or television network. By next year, Google is expected to have advertising revenue of $9.5 billion.)
Let’s face it, when we sell knowledge, the poor lose and the rich get richer. Knowledge and access to knowledge should always be free. Should we charge admission to the libraries of the world? No; if we want a better world, we need to do all we can to spread knowledge, not make a profit from it. The digital divide is real and responsible governments should address the problem now…Hey! It’s free, Google says so!
Note to City Manager, Orland CA: Joe, please call Google and see if we can get on the waiting list.
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