I don't think that governments (municipal, state, provincial or any other) need to go into the ISP business at taxpayers expense. Private hotspots at your local starbucks is one thing, but to have a publicly-owned net available to one and all in a single local net seems to me to be an invitation for trouble.
Having secretaries browing the web on their laptops (filled with corporate data of course) having their yogurt outside during lunch hour while the 15-year-old script-kiddie thrity feet away probing for any open ports available for (mis)use.
Private companies are the way to go, subscription-based with authentication and have a day-pass or week-pass available for purchase for people passing through town want access.
Slashdot Mirror
I certainly don't want to see/hear the condensed Reader's Digest biography of Monet. If that's what I want I don't need to physically be there.
I don't think that governments (municipal, state, provincial or any other) need to go into the ISP business at taxpayers expense. Private hotspots at your local starbucks is one thing, but to have a publicly-owned net available to one and all in a single local net seems to me to be an invitation for trouble. Having secretaries browing the web on their laptops (filled with corporate data of course) having their yogurt outside during lunch hour while the 15-year-old script-kiddie thrity feet away probing for any open ports available for (mis)use. Private companies are the way to go, subscription-based with authentication and have a day-pass or week-pass available for purchase for people passing through town want access.