New Orleans Tech Chief Vows WiFi Net Here to Stay

breckinshire writes "After Hurricane Katrina last year, New Orleans set up a city-wide wireless network to encourage businesses to return and assist in recovery. The New Orleans technology chief recently said that he intends to make the network permanent, in spite of state law and the disapproval of telecoms."

Comments

Buoys?

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Will they place the transmitters on buoys?

Opportunity Knocking

[wiz31337]

I take issue with the telecom companies trying to regulate what city government can and cannot do with their donated equipment. However, if the city shuts down their equipment and lets it sit inactive until another emergency the telecom companies do not have a problem with this.

What the city should propose to do is use the current emergency services systems (police, fire, etc.) in parallel with the wireless equipment. This would provide a variety of systems to use if one fails in the event of another hurricane. A majority if not all the equipment came from Cisco, which provides a software solution called LMR Over IP. This would ensure a highly redundant solution, just incase another event like hurricane Katrina happens again. This is a far better solution than having equipment sitting there useless, or removing it entirely.

Re:Breaking the Law is No Good.

[santiago]

On the contrary, what is legal and what is moral are often in conflict. If enough people feel that a law is wrong, breaking it repeatedly is an excellent method of making everyone else realize that the law should be changed. Many of the great leaders and heroes of our history engaged in civil disobedience as a means to change society. The right to unionize, universal adult suffrage, an end to racial discrimination laws, the withdrawal of colonial governments from occupied nations--refusing to follow bad laws played a key role in all of these.

Re:Breaking the Law is No Good.

[vertinox]

It is truly scary that government officials believe that they are above the law. Laws are passed for a reason - for good or for bad, and we have to accept the law as it is, or collectively agree to change the law.

Dear American Revolutionaries,

It dumbfounds me to no extent why you are not obeying our laws like civilized people. For good or for bad, you must accept the authority of the British Crown and English Parliament. Perhaps you can collectively agree to petition us and we might change the law... If we feel like it.

Yours Truly,

King George