Portland, Oregon is working toward a citywide, privately-operated
wireless network, under a public-private partnership model that
leverages city rights-of-way, among other assets, in return for certain
“public benefits.” I strongly support this effort (the “Unwire
Portland” project).
The issue at hand is that the currently-proposed public benefit
structure is to create a “walled garden” of hand-picked sites that will
be freely available to the public. A few moments' reflection
should alarm the reader: who will pick these sites, using what criteria
and what process for review, etc.? Who will get sued when someone
inevitably disagrees with the choices?
My answer to these concerns is to do away with the “walled garden” and
in its place put a “drinking fountain” model, where each passerby may
take a small “trickle” of an unrestricted Internet connection for free.
I have put together a document supporting the adoption of the drinking fountain model here: http://rlucas.tercent.com/wifi.html
Your comments and suggestions are welcome.