FCC Proposal Would Cover the US With Public Wi-Fi

pigrabbitbear writes "Internet access is an essential need on par with education access, but at what point do regulators recognize that? When will government officials acknowledge that widespread, guaranteed access is essential to fostering growth in the country? Somewhat surprisingly, that time is now, as the FCC is now calling for nationwide free wi-fi networks to be opened up to the public. The FCC proposes buying back spectrum from TV stations that would allow for what the Washington Post is dubbing 'super wi-fi,' as the commission wants to cover the country with wide-ranging, highly-penetrative networks. Essentially, you can imagine the proposal as covering a majority of the country with open-access data networks, similar to cell networks now, that your car, tablet, or even phone could connect to. That means no one is ever disconnected, and some folks – especially light users and the poor – could likely ditch regular Internet and cell plans altogether."

Comments

Re:Cue the

[Synerg1y]

Tell that to all the people that are employed because they self-taught themselves something using the internet. And yes you can go to the public library, plenty of people do, but the public library isn't always open & one isn't always available depending where you live. And based on your statements, people can get by "just fine" without education, it has nothing to do whatsoever with food, air, & water, but it's definitely a nice to have in that sense, so is the internet.

Re:Comes with Free SOPA/CISPA Style monitoring too

[DarwinSurvivor]

Tor won't protect you from identity theft, that's what encryption is for. Tor without encryption just tells MORE people what you are doing.

Re:Source?

[foobsr]

Quote: "The five-member FCC panel has yet to vote on the proposal. Mashable (http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/public-wifi-networks/) has reached out to the FCC for comment and will update this post with any response."

CC.