In which "public" becomes a relative term.

Finally got some feedback on the North Kansas City Public Library's closed network, which I reported here as such back in October '09. You don't need a library card for the password; just ask at the desk and they'll hand it to you on a slip of paper. In fact I'd pass it along, except for two reasons:

1.) I'm not comfortable doing that from either an ethical or legal standpoint-it's not my network, and its owners can run it any way they want, and:

2.) The security on the network is WPA-Personal, also known as WPA-PSK, where PSK is an acronym meaning "public shared key." Which means, in short, that everyone is using the same password, just as you and your housemates probably do on your network at home. Not really the best method of controlling access on a large public network like a library's.

And that causes me to wonder once more just why NKC is doing this. You'd think that especially these days, public libraries would put the emphasis on public. The fewer hoops patrons have to jump through, the fewer obstacles placed between them and what they came in for, the fewer hassles and snags in their user experience, and the better case you can make for the public library's status as an institution still relevant and worthy of our support in an increasingly wired (and unwired) world where, as ath64 sagely reminded us in last fall's fifth-anniversary post, more and more information lies at our fingertips rather than behind reference and circulation desks.

Whether NKCPL's status in the guide changes is up to ath64, but my guess is-and my vote would be-that it won't. The network is still closed unless you obtain the necessary credential-the password-in advance. That said, it would be nice if NKCPL updated its website and told people the truth about its network-and finally got rid of the nonsensical instructions for connecting they've listed since it went live. I mean, "Open your web browser and connect to 'Zone CD...' " Really? Come on!

And on another note, I'd hazard a guess that NKC's vaunted Windows-only wireless printing capability is still a service in search of customers. The only other laptopper our source saw there was using-drum roll culminating in a cymbal crash, please-a Mac.

So now the 'Dotte is REALLY going to be hot...or is it?

For all two or three of you out there who don't know by now,  Google has chosen Kansas City, Kansas as the initial rollout location for its greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread gigabit network.  Yes, that's right-gigabit.  As in one billion bits.  As in a 1 with nine zeroes behind it.  As in download a whole DVD in maybe 40 seconds to a minute.  Cool.  Too bad, though, that it'll take years for wireless networking speeds to catch up to where they can take full advantage of a backhaul that fast.  Right now the best state-of-the-art Wi-Fi equipment would have trouble carrying anything more than about 150 megabits per second, and then only under ideal conditions. 

But who's complaining?  Give me a gigabit right now and I'll gladly saw it into tenths and share it with nine other users, especially for free-which is the price Google plans to charge for nonprofit use (read libraries).  One can only hope that being hooked into the most 21st-century of networks will alleviate the rampant epidemic of 20th-century thinking among so many people that has made eastern Wyandotte County such a digital backwater-and has kept its public libraries in particular from doing nearly as much as they ought to be doing to remedy that.

In short, there'll be plenty of news of interest here emanating from between the viaduct and the speedway over maybe the next 18 to 24 months.  Stay tuned. 

None dare call it cyberbullying.

Methinks the thugs the big movie studios have hired to threaten suspected online pirates into forking over settlement money without a fight have grown a bit big for their britches, given this story from Des Plaines, Illinois. Either that or the robots they use to spam out their extortion messages can't discern the difference between a person and a library.

Well, at least the library had the backbone to come back at them with "Look, here's proof we paid for all the copies of your crappy film that we own, and if that isn't enough for you we'll see you in court." A better response than the one we saw from the panicked politicos of Coshocton County, Ohio a year and a half ago, don't you think?

That said, the library is probably taking a good step by strengthening its acceptable use policy's provisions against copyright infringement-even if it's still very unlikely they'd ever catch an illegal downloader in the act. A better one would be to ban peer-to-peer file sharing-at least in its present form-altogether.

Save your brains and fingers, torrent fans. Don't give me that blather about how legitimate software vendors are using P2P for distribution and support; any software worth buying-and any freeware worth using-is still going to be available from traditional safe sources that don't put customers at risk.

P2P is simply going to have to legitimize itself before gaining acceptance. That means it's going to have to attract investors willing to follow Napster's lead-by kicking out the pirates, pornographers and cybercrooks, making sensible deals with content providers (and if Big Entertainment's thinking is still too twentieth-century to catch the rising tide, maybe going with Little Entertainment for starters will eventually force the big guys into the same corner iTunes maneuvered the Beatles into), and working with operating-system and security software vendors to remedy P2P's current status as a malware conduit. As long as anyone runs the risk of either getting a letter like the library received, or winding up serving time for distributing kiddie porn because their P2P client software passed it through their computer, the torrent community will remain a disreputable corner of the Internet, sorely in need of a Times Square-like makeover.

And frankly, I hope it gets one. Even though public hotspots are getting faster all the time-take a gander at how good users at Chandler, Arizona's downtown public library have it, will you?-the P2P infrastructure might still offer advantages. Those advantages, however, simply don't justify having to wade through the cesspool that currently lies before them.

No Irish need apply?

OK, it's St. Patrick's Day...so sue me.

Anyway,  I decided to roam around Westport a bit after work-more for old times' sake than anything else; my nights of March madness around there are long gone, along with most of the venues in which they took place-and, of course, keep a sharp eye out for potential new unwired locations.  I might as well not have bothered, what with the only viable candidate being a new tobacco shop (ugh!) which at least was honest enough not to tout its WPA-encumbered offering as "free."  (Memo to the proprietor(s):  I didn't see anyone in your establishment chomping down on one of your exquisitely priced offerings while pecking away at a keyboard between puffs.  So...how's locking down that network working out for you?)

And speaking of-well, you see, there was this big tan tent out in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue not far from the aforemetioned business, with a zipped-down entrance and a uniformed guard in front-and a sign clearly stating "VALID U. S. ID REQUIRED."  I resisted the temptation as long as I could, finally giving in and asking a young lady just outside who was obviously an associate of whatever enterprise was being conducted within exactly what was going on in there that wasn't fit for foreigners.  Her response was not one question but two:  "Are you 21?" and "Do you smoke cigarettes?"

Now, I suppose I could have effected my best brogue and implored whether on this day of all days, they would truly deny one fresh off the Old Sod, just for want of an American-issued...naaah!

And to conclude this on-topic, I dropped in again at the Westport branch of the KCMO Public Library to post this, and while I'm happy to report that the two-hours-per-day seating limit signs I saw here around five years ago are gone, so, unfortunately, are the power outlets I found then as well.  Only two pairs of them are readily apparent now-one on each side of a post between a couple of tables in front of the checkout desk.  Better news than that, though, is that even if you have to go battery only, you'll have the speed to get plenty done before recharge time, what with just over 7 megabits per second down and 3 up.

You say you want a revolution...

I've asked before, and I'll ask again:  Where are all these iPads and now competing tablets that are supposed to be sweeping us stodgy old laptoppers into the past alongside keypunch cards and 5 1/4-inch floppy drives?  I've been at the Plaza Library since having gotten off work, and I'm currently one of a half-dozen Wi-Fi users here-all using laptops.  Frankly, I've never run across a tablet user at a hotspot yet.  I did notice someone with a netbook here earlier this afternoon, but that's the lightest artillery I've seen deployed during this operation.

Clearly, tablets are in demand-Apple just launched the second iteration of the iPad today to great fanfare-but you've got to wonder what that tidal wave of buyers is using them for afterward.  They don't appear to be frequenting Kansas City area hotspots with them, that's for sure.

By the way, I ran a speed test here earlier and hit 12-count 'em, 12!-megabits down and nearly 3 up.  Fastest I've ever seen here.  Has fiber finally made its way to Midtown?

Meanwhile, back to the east...

McDonald's
812 Minnesota Avenue, KCK

802.11g
SSID: Wayport_Access or attwifi

After the somewhat depressing results of my West Wyandotte expedition, and the even sadder news, delivered by the Kansas City Star earlier this week, that the YWCA has closed its coffeehouse a few blocks away from here which was reviewed in October by ath64, it's somewhat heartening to find that at least here in the most underserved part of the metro, Mickey D's is really coming through like we thought they would everywhere else upon joining the free world a year ago.

No power outlets, so charge up in advance or type and surf faster than you eat. Speaking of speed...has anyone here checked lately? An online test reported only around 300 kilobits per second down and merely one-third that up. Is that the best Ma Bell can do?

Let's hope not, and let's also hope more businesses that are still managing to thrive in this recession wil consider unwiring, to make up for the loss of some that aren't-such as Borders Books, which (bad pun alert) has turned the first page of Chapter 11 in case you haven't heard. As the KC Business Journal reports, the closeout sale is already under way at the one local store-in the Northland-closing as a result of the filing. And I didn't even realize that their 119th and Metcalf store, the subject of another ath64 review a couple of Christmases back, is already gone.

The confines are a bit more friendly, but...

Kansas City Kansas Public Library, West Wyandotte Library
1737 North 82nd Street, KCK

802.11g
SSID: KCKPLWEST



Well, in hopes that things had gotten a bit better since KCKPL effectively opened up their network to everyone, I sauntered out this way this afternoon-but sadly must report that should you do the same, you'll have to endure the same onerous filtering and port blocking I observed back in October at KCK's main branch, albeit in surroundings much better suited to laptop use. Take a gander, for instance, at this table, replete with a pair of convenient power outlets at the base of the lamp.



There are at least a couple of these here, along with armchairs incorporating swivel trays that could accomodate a laptop or netbook, similar to the chairs that at least used to be in the Miller Nichols Library at UMKC (haven't been there in a while and their laptop connectivity has been restricted to students, faculty and staff for some years now so I don't know if they're still there). And some of those armchairs are right next to power outlets in the floor.

In short, this place could show a few things to some libraries around town. Now, if KCKPL's administration would only take a few hints from them. Usability isn't all furniture and wiring, folks.