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Wifi

Should the City of Berkeley provide free Wi-Fi to all residents?

Summary

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak

In August of 2006 the Wifi issue was launched on Kitchen Democracy. As of December 29, 156 residents voted on it. Overall, residents strongly favor a "free wireless" network, although some support was conditional. Since the time of launch, city staff have been researching this issue.

Based on the July report to the City Council, the City Manager was asked to report back to Council with some specific options on how free wireless access could be made available citywide in a cost effective manner. This report is expected to be available in the first half of 2007.

In the Fall of 2006, the External Affairs Office of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) proposed the expansion of Cal's AirBears wireless network into cafes in the south campus area. This proposed expansion could be viewed as a pilot program for a citywide wireless network and its joint implementation could give the City valuable experience on operating a wireless network. To explore this option, preliminary technical discussions have been held between the Information Technology staff of both UCB and the City. Further meetings need to be held, early in 2007, to establish the feasibility of a joint pilot program to expand the AirBears network.

If the City develops a specific citywide wireless program or a pilot program to expand AirBears off campus, these specific programs will be submitted to the City Council for approval and should as well be submitted to Kitchen Democracy for citizen feedback.

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Pros and Cons: Our current choice

We read every comment. When we find a particularly compelling one, pro or con, we post it here.

We encourage you to read all the comments on the comments page. But if you only have a couple minutes, we thought you would like to read the two we find most compelling.

Don't forget to check back in a few days. Our favorites can change as more Kitchen Democracy citizens submit even more persuasive arguments.

Robert and Simona
Kitchen Democracy

Should the City of Berkeley provide free Wi-Fi to all residents?

Yes	No
This is a fascinating subject. Having read all the arguments for and against, there are clearly very defensible views on both sides of this issue. I think there are really two issues: 1) is free WiFi a good thing? and 2) If so, should the City provide it? On the first part, I feel quite strongly that it is a good thing. Too many sources of information have been privatized over the last 25 years, limiting access to them based on the ability to pay. This is not only unfair to those who cannot afford access, but is also a hindrance to cross-fertilizing ideas, a process that builds community spirit and understanding among citizens, which in turn engages us to give more back to our communities. The internet is a vital resource, and should be viewed as a public good. On the second part, it seems to me that the question of whether the City should provide it comes down to determining who can provide it for the lowest cost? If the City can because of grants or subsidies available to it, then the City should, otherwise the City should, I think, be in favor of the private sector providing it, so long as it remains free to residents. If the City ends up providing it, I don't share the concerns of those who say the City should be focusing on other priorities, because the City should be able to provide it in ways that fully cover its costs. Vivek Hutheesing	The city of Berkeley providing free WIFI is a ridiculous idea. First, we must ask, why free Internet? Why not free cell phone service? Free cable TV? Free gas? Free water? Free food? Free mass transit? Does the city of Berkeley really have enough disposal income to move forward on this plan? Are all other services that the city provides running so smoothly that we can allocate money to this endeavor? The student to teacher ratio is over 20 to one. I would vote for more teachers before free WIFI. Second, there is free Internet access at all public libraries. Also, Internet service is not that expensive, as low as $5 per month. Third, what will happen to the city's private ISP's, namely Idiom.com, Zocolo, EMF, and LMi.Net, who are providing jobs, payroll taxes, property taxes, and city taxes? This could potentially send a number of established, long term Berkeley companies into bankruptcy, thus increasing unemployment, and lowering money paid into the city's coffers. Every employee of these companies regularly shops and dines in Berkeley, thus stimulating the local economy. Fourth, in order to implement free WIFI, the city will have to choose one company and grant a monopoly to that company. That one company will then be force-feeding their commercial content to all of Berkeley's residents. In addition, the healthy competition that exists amongst the various Internet Service Providers in the city will be severely hampered by the favoritism that will be granted to one company. Fifth, what are the health ramificatins of WIFI on the human body? Has this been studied? What are the long-term health implications? There is no way to know, as WIFI is still a relatively new invention. Sixth, who will provide technical support for everyone? Who will help users configure their individual computers and e-mail accounts? Will the city have to hire and staff an Internet technical support department? Where will this money come from? Seventh, think about this, research from Hitwise, which uses ISP-based network traffic to measure site visits, indicated that nearly 19 percent of all Internet site visits are made to adult content sites. This number was recently verified by CNN, which put the percentage at 18.8. Internet Filter Review estimates that there are 4.2 million porn Web sites - 12 percent of the total amount of sites on the Internet - allowing access to 72 million worldwide visitors annually. One-quarter of total daily search engine requests, or 68 million, are for pornographic material, where 40 million Americans are regular visitors. US News and World Report states that in the early to mid-1990s, up to 80 percent of all Internet traffic was adult related. Do we really want the city of Berkeley to be in the porn delivery business? In closing, what is the great problem that the city of Berkeley is attempting to solve? I have heard of no one clamoring for free WIFI. There is free Internet service at every school, so children already have access. There is free Internet service at public libraries and senior centers, so adults already have Internet access. Why is this even being considered? Gary Morrell

Yes

This is a fascinating subject. Having read all the arguments for and against, there are clearly very defensible views on both sides of this issue. I think there are really two issues: 1) is free WiFi a good thing? and 2) If so, should the City provide it?
On the first part, I feel quite strongly that it is a good thing. Too many sources of information have been privatized over the last 25 years, limiting access to them based on the ability to pay. This is not only unfair to those who cannot afford access, but is also a hindrance to cross-fertilizing ideas, a process that builds community spirit and understanding among citizens, which in turn engages us to give more back to our communities. The internet is a vital resource, and should be viewed as a public good.

On the second part, it seems to me that the question of whether the City should provide it comes down to determining who can provide it for the lowest cost? If the City can because of grants or subsidies available to it, then the City should, otherwise the City should, I think, be in favor of the private sector providing it, so long as it remains free to residents. If the City ends up providing it, I don't share the concerns of those who say the City should be focusing on other priorities, because the City should be able to provide it in ways that fully cover its costs.

Vivek Hutheesing

The city of Berkeley providing free WIFI is a ridiculous idea.

First, we must ask, why free Internet? Why not free cell phone service? Free cable TV? Free gas? Free water? Free food? Free mass transit? Does the city of Berkeley really have enough disposal income to move forward on this plan? Are all other services that the city provides running so smoothly that we can allocate money to this endeavor? The student to teacher ratio is over 20 to one. I would vote for more teachers before free WIFI.

Second, there is free Internet access at all public libraries. Also, Internet service is not that expensive, as low as $5 per month.

Third, what will happen to the city's private ISP's, namely Idiom.com, Zocolo, EMF, and LMi.Net, who are providing jobs, payroll taxes, property taxes, and city taxes? This could potentially send a number of established, long term Berkeley companies into bankruptcy, thus increasing unemployment, and lowering money paid into the city's coffers. Every employee of these companies regularly shops and dines in Berkeley, thus stimulating the local economy.

Fourth, in order to implement free WIFI, the city will have to choose one company and grant a monopoly to that company. That one company will then be force-feeding their commercial content to all of Berkeley's residents. In addition, the healthy competition that exists amongst the various Internet Service Providers in the city will be severely hampered by the favoritism that will be granted to one company.

Fifth, what are the health ramificatins of WIFI on the human body? Has this been studied? What are the long-term health implications? There is no way to know, as WIFI is still a relatively new invention.

Sixth, who will provide technical support for everyone? Who will help users configure their individual computers and e-mail accounts? Will the city have to hire and staff an Internet technical support department? Where will this money come from?

Seventh, think about this, research from Hitwise, which uses ISP-based network traffic to measure site visits, indicated that nearly 19 percent of all Internet site visits are made to adult content sites. This number was recently verified by CNN, which put the percentage at 18.8. Internet Filter Review estimates that there are 4.2 million porn Web sites - 12 percent of the total amount of sites on the Internet - allowing access to 72 million worldwide visitors annually. One-quarter of total daily search engine requests, or 68 million, are for pornographic material, where 40 million Americans are regular visitors. US News and World Report states that in the early to mid-1990s, up to 80 percent of all Internet traffic was adult related.

Do we really want the city of Berkeley to be in the porn delivery business?

In closing, what is the great problem that the city of Berkeley is attempting to solve? I have heard of no one clamoring for free WIFI. There is free Internet service at every school, so children already have access. There is free Internet service at public libraries and senior centers, so adults already have Internet access.

Why is this even being considered?

Gary Morrell

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Documents

Wireless Internet for the City of Berkeley Communication to the City Council from the City Manager on the subject of Wireless Internet for the City of Berkeley, prepared by the Director of Information Technology File size: 0.2MB
The Way We Live Now Article from the NY Times Magazine about WiFi installation as disaster preparedness File size: 0.1MB
What if They Built an Urban Wireless Network and Hardly Anyone Used It? Article from the NY Times about issues regarding the building of a citywide network File size: 0.05MB
Flier announcing this issue to distribute to your neighbors File size: 0.2MB

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OVERVIEW

Summary

Pros and Cons: Our current choice

Should the City of Berkeley provide free Wi-Fi to all residents?

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