OK first a couple of links...
Google Bidding to Provide Free Wireless Internet Access to All of San Francisco
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051001/google_wireless_internet.html?.v=3
Google in San Francisco: 'Wireless overlord'?
http://news.com.com/Google+in+San+Francisco+Wireless+overlord/2100-1039_3-5886968.html?part=rss&
tag=5886968&subj=news
Here's a blog I bet few Kossacks know about but should
IP & Democracy
http://www.ipdemocracy.com/
And there's more ( and it gets better ) on the flip...
Google WiFi, Web 2.0 and Change
Oct 2
http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/000534google_wifi_web_20_and_change.php
The key excerpt from Mitch Shapiro
Chris Nolan, author of the Politics From Left to Right blog, who says "If Google does offer free wireless Internet access, it could change the political, social and economic fabric of the country. And that's not a bad thing."
The sudden, over-night, branded provision of free and almost unlimited access to the Internet would mean that telephone, cable, broadcast TV, film and music companies would have to come to gripsâ"now!â"with the fact that their hold on their customers is slipping and can easily be undone. That makes the free Wi-Fi idea one very politically shrewd move on Google's part.
Free Google Wi-Fi would add support to the arguments made by cities and towns that such access is a public safety and health issue. It would also shore up arguments that Wi-Fi is both an economic development tool as well as a municipal money-saver. It would be a potent demonstration of the power and flexibility of the Internet and lawmakers in Washington love demonstrations that reassure people that the future isn't really that scary. Again, politically shrewd on Google's part.
Posted by Mitch Shapiro at October 2, 2005 09:50 AM