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European Union Will Fund Public Wifi (axios.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The European Union is moving towards getting free public wifi into unconnected locations around the bloc. A new agreement will provide 120 million euros to "fund equipment for public free Wi-Fi services in 6,000 to 8,000 municipalities" across the E.U.
This has to be a payoff of some kind. 20,000 euro isn't enough to pay for significant 'Public Wifi'.
The money will disappear without a trace. Plop.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Funding hasn't been secured for this, just to start somewhere.
What kind of speeds are we talking? What kind of data caps? If it's like my current mobile data plan in Germany, 500 MB per month is nothing on today's internet. May as well go without entirely.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Dude, if I could download free pizza, it'd be totally radical!!
"The free market could decide this for itself,"
The 'free market' doesn't exist in that sense, markets are always run according to various sets of rules.
Just another example of how the USA is lagging so far behind the developed world (note: America can no longer be considered *part* of the developed world)
Oh c'mon... It's only 120 million euros. How much is that in Beluga Caviar?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
We've hit the point where the (depressingly high) percentage of the western world that's willing and able to pay for the privilege of being tracked 24/7 has already done so, so now it's time to pick up the stragglers by giving it away for free. The ones who still refuse will eventually be forced in as it gets increasingly difficult to participate in the modern world without internet access.
Oh c'mon... It's only 120 million euros. How much is that in Beluga Caviar?
Yeah, that's what they said when the United States started paying for stuff for the states. Look at us now. The Federal government has all the power and the state governments are a joke. That's exactly where the EU is heading. They modelled their system after the USA and are following the same path where the EU slowly takes more and more power from the individual countries until they cease to exist. An interesting history lesson, the word state used to be synonymous with nation until the USA redefined it and robbed the individual states of their sovereignty.
Subnationalizing the states was the price of freedom from slavery and disagreeing is a hate crime.
Look at us now. The Federal government has all the power and the state governments are a joke.
Hold on there, pardner. I live in Texas and I can assure you that our state government is not a jo...oh wait
back a few years ago when it looked like maybe there might be a wireless alternative to comcast time warner, there was a sudden explosion of people and nonprofit organizations claiming that there were many people suffering from wifi sensitivity...I believe that these were bogus claims being backed by money from comcast, time warner etc...watch for wifi allergy complaints to make a comeback if this idea takes off
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Your glory days of the Republic are over, Tex. Six Flags over the Loser State now.
If my phone can get on WiFi for free, I will not need cellular services — Facetime/WhatsApp/Hangouts some other VoIP will kill cellular service.
Cellular carriers know this and are sitting on their hands. I predict one (or more of the following):
The free WiFi will suck Though this goes without saying, because it will be government-managed, it will suck especially badly to keep people from cancelling their cell-plans the way they are already cancelling their "land" lines. The free WiFi will be limited Your ability to use it will be limited to, say, 2 hours per day — trying to evade the limit by changing your MAC-address will be illegal. Joining such a WiFi will require explicit agreement to a giant "sign your rights away" sheet, which no one will read. This means, the joining will not be automatic — when traveling from one municipality to another, you'll have to keep accepting the terms. And then someone will read it, find all sorts of potentially-troubling privacy implications and advise people to keep using their traditional cell-service. The popular VoIP services will be blocked Net-neutrality? What's that? No, that's only for the evil KKKorporations, that charge money. The benevolent government service-providers, that give you the service for free, will be exempt — the way Amtrak is already exempt in the US. The existing carriers will be co-opted into building this infrastructure Instead of competing with each other, however, and trying to attract customers, the carriers will divide the market and provide the service for "free" to captive tax-payers. And yet, considering the alternatives, this is the best EU-citizens can hope for if this stupid proposal gains any traction.Fellow Americans can get a taste of the "free" government-provided WiFi by buying an Amtrak ticket and trying to use Amtrak's WiFi during their trip...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
In the US the 'free market' has created entrenched players who can stifle any advancement to suit their own profits
the free market is way too oversold, I would love to have some socialism driving the development of new technology
Duh, learn to visit SSL enabled websites. Even porn sites do it nowadays, so i'm pretty sure nobody but then knows my porn habits. And maybe Google. But that's on secure pipeline as well.
Your ISP knows you're going to pornhub, but once you're there, they can't tell if you're watching golden showers vids or the submissive male vids.
No, I'm sorry... The correct answer is ~13,400 kilos
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Less, you'd spike the price buying that much.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Germany figured out that it could not control the world on it's own, though it tried twice.
If they control Europe and the other countries without fighting them, they'll have a much better chance this time.
Dummies who cry free market about these things forget about natural monopolies. We used to understand that you had to regulate natural monopolies, but now we are too stupid to understand that certain businesses aren't really good candidates for the free market with telecom and the internet perfect examples of businesses that should be regulated monopolies
EU loves infrastructure projects that serves its only true goal: create an optimum currency zone.
This project require capital and labor to be perfectly mobile within the zone, hence the subsided transport and communication projects where free market failed to create the approriate conditions
They modelled their system after the USA
The EU integration goes from the little things to larger things, while the US integration goes the other way around. It all started as a agreement to mutually oversee the strategic industries of each party to avoid another war.
An interesting history lesson, the word state used to be synonymous with nation until the USA redefined it and robbed the individual states of their sovereignty.
At that point the state was more synonymous to a king or kingdom rather than a nation. The national romantic cultural wave was on its infancy, waiting for the first French republic and the early days of Napoleon, Risorgimento, and Otto von Bismarck. The US was never looked as collection of states with a separate cultures, but a unified nation with the culture as it was presented through its ambassadors.
Some show about the history of television in the US emphasized how the national broadcasting finally harmonized the US culture in a significant way. The previous differences were practically invisible to the outside world before and remained so until television brought the US political and historical divides to the European screens.
Yeh giving free things to citizens is so bad. Better ban mums giving milk to their children, and better yet ban the American military for its socialist national defence program...
Typical self centeeed American, England is a sub national state and has quite different laws compared to wales or Scotland and doZens of other British territories around the world.
The better to track you with, my dear, said the big bad wolf.
Typical self centeeed American, England is a sub national state and has quite different laws compared to wales or Scotland and doZens of other British territories around the world.
American states are very similar to England,Scotland, and Wales. They had and still have in some cases quite different laws from state to state but every year that goes by the laws get more and more homogenized and the states lose more and more powers to the federal. The federal government discovered that it could collect more money than it needed and then give it back with strings attached to make the states comply. The states technically could not comply but only at the cost of not getting their fair share of the federal money.
you are a fucking idiot
As I found out in April many European Hotel chains employ geoblocking against patrons who are not European.
So likely the "service" will also geoblock non-Europeans.
Subnationalizing the states was the price of freedom from slavery and disagreeing is a hate crime.
And I will disagree. Slavery was already dying. Whites enslaving blacks was the final breath of slavery and a short part of overall slavery. Most of the racial problems we have today are because of the last 200 years of slavery where slave traders tried to make people think blacks were inferior to whites to try to keep slavery from fully dying. Before that any race could be a slave owner and any race could be a slave. Racism only became a part of slavery at the tail end of slavery when it was already on it's way out.
p.s. A good book to read about slavery and racism is "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry". It not only explains the root of whites enslaving blacks but it also shows what real racism looks like.
Yeah, that's what they said when the United States started paying for stuff for the states. Look at us now.
Ok, do tell us what's going on. And then tell us why Trump, and the GOP beforehand hasn't fixed it. They've been railing at it for over 30 years now, yet the results, well, what results do we have, huh?
The Federal government has all the power and the state governments are a joke.
State governments chose to be a joke. Some of them became the epitome of corruption, to the point where their own citizens were rebelling against them. Not to mention the nullification crisis, was all about supporting the rich, as was their second huzzah with slavery.
So far, states' rights have been woefully misused.
That's exactly where the EU is heading.
I'm pretty sure the British government didn't need the EU to become a joke.
They modelled their system after the USA and are following the same path where the EU slowly takes more and more power from the individual countries until they cease to exist.
While I'm not sure of the ACTUAL existence of Delaware, I'm pretty sure it NEVER existed, thus it could not cease to exist.
But seriously, you're too late to wring your hands over Europe. Maybe you forgot the Holy Roman Empire, maybe you forgot the Austria-Hungarian Empire, maybe you forgot the Papal States, the Free City of Danzig, and the four Kingdoms of Spain, but not everybody is so deficient in their recollection of history.
An interesting history lesson, the word state used to be synonymous with nation until the USA redefined it and robbed the individual states of their sovereignty.
No, it wasn't like that at all. You should look up a good etymological record of the word.
If anything, such confusion PREDATED the formation of the United States, when the Colonies were referred to as "states" in some cases.
They had and still have in some cases quite different laws from state to state but every year that goes by the laws get more and more homogenized and the states lose more and more powers to the federal.
Actually, it's because lawyers, and businesses, are advocating uniform and regular standards of legal codes, not a mish-mash of unfathomable obscurities. This is even occurring on an international level. See the UCC, but also the ULC.
The states technically could not comply but only at the cost of not getting their fair share of the federal money.
And if you wanted to talk about that, we already have it, due to the failure of the House to apportion itself properly.
But I suspect you don't.
Oh c'mon... It's only 120 million euros. How much is that in Beluga Caviar?
I much prefer osetra.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Ya, right. The Invisible Hand of Shrugging Atlas. Thing is, the "free market" is now rejoicing and rubbing its hands that its lobbying campaign to "educate" decision makers has turned out so well.
The issue with you neocons/neoliberals is that you don't want to see that as long as the "free maket" can buy laws, they will.
I think it may not be that clear cut. Maybe infrastructure vs service? Also, a certain amount of market iniative is needed, otherwise the innovation doesn't happen, unless it is the sort of grand nation project that is far too risky for any private entity.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Look: if you're going to use food as a unit of currency, do it right! How much is that in saffron?
Good, inexpensive web hosting
It is free, so what is the catch? I am thinking free wifi across the WU probably must be based on police state bs. Make surveillance easy!
You are the product! Something a particular technologist once said.
The free market could decide this for itself, or local governments could provide incentives for businesses to increase connectivity with voters approving tax credits. Instead, the leftist leadership of this is going to force it on everyone in the EU and raise the already ridiculously high taxes even more to pay for it.
How is there a difference between "tax credits" and other forms of funding/subsidies? Do you really think that "tax credits" are a free lunch (instead of shifting the tax load to others, too), or are you desperately trying to build a strawman against progressive politics?
In the US the 'free market' has created entrenched players who can stifle any advancement to suit their own profits
the free market is way too oversold, I would love to have some socialism driving the development of new technology
"Have you read your manifesto today comrade?"
Yes/No
No? Well, you have been reported to the wifi secret police. Stay where you are. We're coming to award you a free stay in Club Gulag.
I'm sorry, but socialism has basically fucked up just about everything it's ever been exposed to (to a greater or lesser extend). So when some yutz comes along and goes, "I know it doesn't work. But you know what we need? MORE SOCIALISM!" I tend to look at them like the inbred, indoctrinated mouth-breather that they are.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
How funny it is. When free WiFi came out over a decade ago everyone flocked it to for free internet access. I think Starbucks was one of the first pioneers of the idea. Then came demand for every other store and company to provide free WiFi access for their customers, which really took off during the iPhone revolution (2007). Then municipalities started getting involved and offering free WiFi inside places like libraries and such and some even blanketed their towns in it. Others offered small hot spots for it.
And now, whenever someone offers to create free WiFi areas, it's treated as a way to spy on users or people want to know what the limits are. Funny how speed or limits never really factored into it before.
What a society we live in today/
We all know this will happen. Those idiots in the EU will block all news regarding refugee terrorists, dissenting voices on all the left-wing governmental bullshit and promote anti-right wing news. Good luck with that, fuckwits.
Pax Vobiscum
...says the inbred mouth-breather
Ah. Lacking in an ACTUAL argument, you simply fall back on name calling.
Very adult of you. Are you going to fight me next? Maybe book me in the hall?
How cute!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
"I'm sorry, but socialism has basically fucked up just about everything it's ever been exposed to"
Public ownership is common in the US, and many many other countries in the world including those with the highest living standards, in other words, a mix of socialism and capitalism is the norm.
So when he said "I would love to have some socialism driving the development of new technology" I'm assuming he meant he would like to see some new tech driven more by user interests and less by the drive for profits at the expense of consumer choice.