San Fran Mayor: Wireless Internet is a "fundamental right" of all citizens!

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - San Fran Mayor: Wireless Internet is a "fundamental right" of all citizens!

Posted: 10/3/2005 8:49:13 PM EDT

Speechless...

cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?id=2005100322030002774579&dt=20051003220300&w=RTR&coview=

S.F. mayor sees wireless service as basic right

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who became internationally known for his campaign a year ago to legalize gay marriage, on Monday said he considered wireless Internet access a fundamental right of all citizens.

Officials said 24 proposals had been turned into the city to deliver wireless Internet services, ranging from Web search company Google Inc., Cingular, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, to Internet service provider EarthLink Inc..

Newsom told a news conference that he was bracing for a battle with telephone and cable interests along with state and federal regulators who he said are looking to derail a campaign by cities to offer free or low-cost municipal Wi-Fi services.

Wi-Fi is a short-range wireless technology that is now built into most laptop computers and is increasingly offered on handheld computers and certain mobile phones. Local officials are mulling plans to blanket every nook and cranny of this hilly city of 750,000 residents with universal Wi-Fi access.

"This is inevitable -- Wi-Fi. It is long overdue," Newsom told a news conference at San Francisco's City Hall. "It is to me a fundamental right to have access universally to information," he said.

Newsom said he hoped to streamline the final bidding process and arrive at a contractor to build the citywide wireless service. That may take as little as five months to six months, he told reporters. But a series of public hearings, city approval processes, as well as potential lawsuits by opponents could drag the process out far longer, he cautioned.

Making wireless access affordable to the entire population of San Francisco was a vital step to differentiating the city in order to make it more economically competitive on a state, national and global level, Newsom argued.

But the mayor also singled out the power of Wi-Fi as an alternative network to provide emergency information to all citizens in the event a natural disaster such as an earthquake were to strike the city and knock out other communications.

Thus, wireless access can be seen a basic right that should be available not just to business professionals but also lower-income citizens. "This is a civil rights issue as much as anything else," Newsom said.

The mayor said he had no exact figures on how much it would cost to build a wireless umbrella to cover the entire city, but cited various informal estimates that have ranged from $8 million to $16 million for antennas and other gear.

"My intent is to have the taxpayers pay little or nothing," Newsom said of the municipal wireless project.

In coming months, Newsom predicted, state or federal officials would introduce legislative bills seeking to prevent cities from running wireless services that compete with private companies.

City officials said other companies that presented proposals included San Francisco wireless broadband start-up Feeva Inc., which already offers a free Wi-Fi hot-spot zone around Union Square, the city's downtown shopping district.

Chris Vein, director of telecommunication and information services for the City of San Francisco declined to comment on whether any of the participants planned to use an alternative technology known as WiMAX, which provides higher speed wireless service using fewer antennas.

One company, which Vein declined to name, has proposed an advertising-supported plan for free wireless access, he said. That company appeared to be Google. A Google spokesman on Friday had confirmed that its Wi-Fi access proposal could be funded through online advertising.

A similar project is underway in Philadelphia, whose population is about twice the size of San Francisco's and was the first large city to plan on offering city-wide Wi-Fi.

Posted: 10/3/2005 8:55:13 PM EDT

[#1]

Not suprising from a mayor who thinks its a fundamental right to stick his penis up another mans ass.

Posted: 10/3/2005 8:55:20 PM EDT

[#2]

That's San Franfreko for ya. A communist stronghold.

The city by the bay, where bums deficate and urinate in the street to add to the sublime sights and sounds of the city. Where the last mayor, a stauch communist, prosetlized that bums shold be albe to take credit cards for begging.

They were paying bums about $450 a month to be bums. They either need more of the right drugs or they need to share.

Posted: 10/3/2005 8:59:30 PM EDT

[#3]

If that's true, then I have a fundemental right to redheads.

*clenched fist salute*

No redheads, no peace!

Posted: 10/3/2005 9:05:16 PM EDT

[#4]

San Fran Mayor: Wireless Internet is a "fundamental right" of all citizens!

But the right to bear arms is out dated and not necessary.

Posted: 10/3/2005 9:09:16 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Not suprising from a mayor who thinks its a fundamental right to stick his penis up another mans ass.

No shit, AIDS is a fundamental right to all in this city.......that place needs to be melted.

Posted: 10/3/2005 11:58:50 PM EDT

[#6]

Should make it easier for the fag internet predators.

Posted: 10/4/2005 12:00:29 AM EDT

[#7]

Cool, I thought I was going to have to pay for it............hold it, I live in Texas, is it a "right" here too?

Posted: 10/4/2005 12:01:38 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
San Fran Mayor: Wireless Internet is a "fundamental right" of all citizens!

But the right to bear arms is out dated and not necessary.

They just have to use 1776 era computers

Posted: 10/4/2005 12:05:22 AM EDT

[#9]

If the citizens of San Francisco would like to pay for wireless internet for the rest of the country, I say go for it!

Posted: 10/4/2005 12:09:25 AM EDT

[#10]

Goddamned Homo paedophiles wanting easier untraceable access so they can prey upon the youth of America.

I am embarrassed that city is in North America, sounds more like soemthing out of certain parts of Europe

Posted: 10/4/2005 12:54:50 AM EDT

[#11]

Yeah, free, like at the library. You can check out the paper, encyclopedias, even get on the net.

I dont get where wi-fi should be free or subsidized by .gov, be it city, state, or feds unless it was the will of the people, which if we know anything about the will of the people, they'll choose porn.

Posted: 10/4/2005 1:15:00 AM EDT

[#12]

The only reason this is a story is because it was done by the San Fran mayor.

There have been companies that have made bids here where I'm at to set up municipal WiFi networks, but the local govs basically put so many restrictions on them they refuse to operate.

The the local gov decides to get their OWN plan for municipal WiFi and get bids on it. Just like everything else in gov, it ends up being more expensive to implement thier own taxpayer funded plan than what a private biz was offering.

I've read a few articles on this since I'm into communications but nothing on the internet.

Posted: 10/4/2005 1:21:30 AM EDT

[#13]

Newsom's a fucking idiot. His wife left him after this gay marriage BS, and now he's yet again trying to ingratiate himself with the national Democratic Party. He's trying to make a name for himself and I would expect to see more of this idiot in the future.

This is the same guy who sided with the hotel worker's union during the recent strike and totally screwed over the hotels in his own city. He's a fucking idiot. The hotels bring in millions every year and he screwed them.

He’s a bucking Bill Clinton -- just more radical.

Posted: 10/4/2005 1:29:15 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Yeah, free, like at the library. You can check out the paper, encyclopedias, even get on the net.

I dont get where wi-fi should be free or subsidized by .gov, be it city, state, or feds unless it was the will of the people, which if we know anything about the will of the people, they'll choose porn.

I think you nailed it. I have no problem with people having free media. If you want to go to the library to look things up on the web to have better understanding of the world, good for you, but I think that almost any public library will have internet these days. You can check your e-mail,but don't think that the gov. should give internet to people the same way I don't think tha t the gov. should give away newspapers or cable TV. When gov. starts to give away media, it is too easy for them to control it.

Posted: 10/4/2005 1:35:50 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Goddamned Homo paedophiles wanting easier untraceable access so they can prey upon the youth of America.

I am embarrassed that city is in North America, sounds more like soemthing out of certain parts of Europe

Not my part!

Damn wierd idea, I'm sure there are more fundamental things to work on, how good are San Francisco's public schools then

?

Bits of SF were quite nice when I visited, but a lot of it was a shithole.

/PHil

Posted: 10/4/2005 2:43:07 AM EDT

[#16]

There must be too much lead in the water system in CA. Only way to explain the high concentration of lunacy in that state.

Seriously, just another liberal-socialist-communist politician. Promise the lazy bread, circuses and a bubble of security around their lives and you'll get elected every time.

What happpened in New Orleans shows the result of any government that loses sight of what its true focus should be, the safety of the local citizenry. Any government that focuses too much on warm and fuzzy socialism hasn't a clue about what to do when large-scale trouble like a hurricane arrives, because it has come to believe in its own lie and fails to plan for emergencies.

Posted: 10/4/2005 2:46:02 AM EDT

[#17]

More crap from the digital divide people.

Posted: 10/4/2005 3:39:18 AM EDT

[#18]

What a dork.

Posted: 10/4/2005 3:48:02 AM EDT

[#19]

Take a close look folks, whacked out ideas or not, THIS IS THE GUY being groomed for Diane Feinsteins senate seat.

Posted: 10/4/2005 3:57:50 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Yeah, free, like at the library. You can check out the paper, encyclopedias, even get on the net.

I dont get where wi-fi should be free or subsidized by .gov, be it city, state, or feds unless it was the will of the people, which if we know anything about the will of the people, they'll choose porn.

I think you nailed it. I have no problem with people having free media. If you want to go to the library to look things up on the web to have better understanding of the world, good for you, but I think that almost any public library will have internet these days. You can check your e-mail,but don't think that the gov. should give internet to people the same way I don't think tha t the gov. should give away newspapers or cable TV. When gov. starts to give away media, it is too easy for them to control it.

Will the .gov then be able to monitor what you surf and keep tabs on you?

Posted: 10/4/2005 3:59:12 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Yeah, free, like at the library. You can check out the paper, encyclopedias, even get on the net.

I dont get where wi-fi should be free or subsidized by .gov, be it city, state, or feds unless it was the will of the people, which if we know anything about the will of the people, they'll choose porn.

I think you nailed it. I have no problem with people having free media. If you want to go to the library to look things up on the web to have better understanding of the world, good for you, but I think that almost any public library will have internet these days. You can check your e-mail,but don't think that the gov. should give internet to people the same way I don't think tha t the gov. should give away newspapers or cable TV. When gov. starts to give away media, it is too easy for them to control it.

Will the .gov then be able to monitor what you surf and keep tabs on you?

Oh they wouldn't do that! They have our best interests at heart! You heartless beast, don't you care about the poor people?

Posted: 10/4/2005 4:14:02 AM EDT

[#22]

We live in quite the country where in NO 80% of the poor had DVD players to watch the "get youself out of Dodge" video. And in SF they apparently have no shortage of computers.

The "poor" of our country have no idea just how good they have it.

Posted: 10/4/2005 4:14:41 AM EDT

[#23]

The concept people have of "rights" anymore is just insane.

Yet more libbie stupidity. Only a liberal can proclaim that wireless access is a "fundamental right" while denying that the 2nd Ammendment (an ACTUAL FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT) doesn't exist.

Posted: 10/4/2005 4:15:09 AM EDT

[#24]

I missed that "right" in the Constitution. Which amendment is it again?

Posted: 10/4/2005 4:24:18 AM EDT

[#25]

And just think. Every American from the Revolutionary War up until a few years ago has been denied a fundamental human right, and they didn't even know it! I can't imagine how steamed Teddy Roosevelt would be!

Posted: 10/4/2005 5:11:25 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
And just think. Every American from the Revolutionary War up until a few years ago has been denied a fundamental human right, and they didn't even know it! I can't imagine how steamed Teddy Roosevelt would be!

Indeed.

Clearly I need to sue somebody for some reparations money!

Posted: 10/4/2005 5:11:58 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
The concept people have of "rights" anymore is just insane.

Yet more libbie stupidity. Only a liberal can proclaim that wireless access is a "fundamental right" while denying that the 2nd Ammendment (an ACTUAL FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT) doesn't exist.

It isn't definitions that matter. It is how you feel about the definitions you can create.

Posted: 10/4/2005 11:39:31 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
Take a close look folks, whacked out ideas or not, THIS IS THE GUY being groomed for Diane Feinsteins senate seat.

She needs to be under the next bus going down Pennsylvania Ave.

He needs to be half-a-bus-length beyond her.

Time for the Second American Revolution.

Posted: 10/4/2005 11:46:43 AM EDT

[#29]

WTF? I know I posted in this thread... has anyone else noticed some of their posts being deleted?

About the thread: It could help with productivity and help with on the economic scope of things; however, is it a right? No...

Posted: 10/4/2005 7:03:01 PM EDT

[#30]

The Constitution is about providing EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. Life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness is the goal. [Notice: PURSUIT is the operative word, not ATTAINMENT].

The Liberal-Socialist-Communist spin is to push that to EQUAL RESULT, their "Living Constitution" spin. Of course, they will be in control of the process and what is determined to be a "right" for the masses.

Eliteist, authoritarian, "old school" European. No wonder Klinton and Kerry kiss up to Europeans. Those societies are their idols. Odd they seem to overlook the fact that the USA had to rescue their idols from themselves twice during the 20th century.

Everything we had a revolution over back in '76.

No thank you.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - San Fran Mayor: Wireless Internet is a "fundamental right" of all citizens!

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