Will this contain the all-bukkake 24/7 internet? That one rules... if it's real.

Um. I'm all the way overe here on the other side of the country, so I don't know much about San Fransisco, but certainly, there are more pressing issues than the internet that need to be adressed.

Hey, news is news. You decide what you want to take in, and let the rest of us decide what's important to us.

We'll talk again after you've been without the internet for a week. If you don't repeatedly think, 'I'll go look that up on the internet' when you've watching TV, reading, or having a conversation with someone, then I'll worship your restraint.

Do you think that some where very far from here that an alien nation has a Seti style project looking for signs of intelligence in the galaxy?

It would be funny if they picked up chatter from the CE boards on SG via the SF WiFi.

When you think about it though, it makes sense to make it free to everyone.

I mean, your tax dollars were used to fund the research that went into creating it. Why shouldn't you have unlimited access to it for free? I'd love to see ISPs a thing of the past.

Yeah, it makes sense, if I paid for it, I sure as hell should reap the benefits.

But if there arent any more serious issues in San Fran to put that money into, I need to move.


Anyway, my original post was lighthearted, and should be taken as such.

Show the love Newsom!

Philadelphia has begun implimenting this idea and now San Francisco. It might catch on all over. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Hmm. I'm not sure I'd like to see what would happen if good, healthy competition was removed from the equation.

I think the proper term would be dole...

as in..free shit given out to populous in order to quel riots and other things you don't want.

now we will be able to concentrate on putting public pornographers behind bars. for life. where there is no internet access.

I should clarify: internet becomes more or less a "gift" of the government. The FCC takes a larger role in regulating it's "appropriate" content. Police departments are able to track the city's surfers. Psychological profiles are built on web surfing habits. A department of Precrime is established- no precogs needed.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Heyoka. Things can still be pretty restrictive with competition, but without... well, do you trust your government?

You may have a point. It would only be a matter of time before the "please think of the children" assholes start complaining that their tax money is going to fund access to pornographic websites, and the next step would undoubedly be goernment regulation and censorship of content.

I'm still not convinced that competition among ISPs provides much of a benefit for consumers once the infrastructure is for internet connection though. I may be wrong about this, but I just don't see the advantage.

We already have a lot of that. I have friends that work at EV1, and according to them all their servers are piped through a federal server before it hits the net. So yea, ISP or not...all your shit is going through govt. servers anyway.

The government can make pornography laws now if it wanted. Having the man foot the bill for access isn't going to make any difference as far as that is concerned. Besides, they can't block porn...it's a multibillion dollar industry.