The return of "Communi-Fi?"

How many of us now remember Wi-Fi's early days-that heady period right around the turn of the century when 802.11b reigned and eleven megabits per second seemed like all the bandwidth anyone would ever need?  When wardrivers roamed with abandon, meticulously charting and publicizing the location of open networks (a practice that the laws have, thankfully, caught up with since then)?  And when those of a certain idealistic bent banded together in communities across the nation, hoping through partnering with business and government to turn this new technology into a bridge across the digital divide?

Well...it never happened, for the most part.  Public libraries, thank goodness, did come to see ensuring public access to the online realm for all as part of their mission, and consequently public library locations were originally and are still today among the most prolific of America's open wireless hotspots.  But the hope of a Great Unwiring of the inner cities and rural areas bypassed by commercial broadband providers had evaporated along with most of the grassroots organizations pushing for it by the middle of the decade. 

Maybe, just maybe, however, the pendulum could be swinging back.  Witness this item from Houston which just mentions in passing a California utility's having set up a Wi-Fi network for meter reading-and just coincidentally, deciding to open it up for public use.  They mention it in passing to let readers know that right there in Houston is a community organization trying to bring the same benefits to their hometown. 

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, and not just for purposes of nostalgia.  The incumbent providers who managed to scuttle this sort of thing in past years will have a harder time arguing against it now, what with all the time they've had to expand access in areas they still aren't serving. 

Stay tuned.

A gentle suggestion...

...to anyone inclined to seek out what you think will be the anonymity of someone else's Wi-Fi network-particularly one provided for public use such as in a library-for unlawful purposes you don't want traced back to you.

Don't do that in Australia.

As a matter of fact, it's not all that great of an idea much closer to home, either.  (Sorry I missed this when it happened and therefore can only link to a story still up on an outstate newspaper's site.  All that snow, you know...)