Hidden cost of 'free' wireless

HIDDEN COST OF "FREE" WIRELESS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] Privacy advocates have raised an alarm about Smart Valley Initiative's ambitious plan to provide free or low-cost wireless network access to 34 Silicon Valley municipalities. In a passionate six-page letter, officials from the Northern California ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Electronic Privacy Information Center presented a number of privacy concerns that they hope the initiative will address with bidders before accepting a proposal. The advocates are tapping into something that's often been neglected in the hoopla surrounding free wireless programs: Most of the commercial vendors lining up to offer services do, in fact, have a business model. And its currency is user information. We could be missing out on a tremendous opportunity. At the very least, officials need to actively engage the public in a discussion of what users are and aren't willing to surrender in return for free wireless -- and inform bidders accordingly. Cities and towns around the nation are eagerly pursuing free wireless -- why shouldn't the Bay Area provide them with a responsible, forward-thinking model? This is uncharted territory for many municipalities, and it won't be easy for any vendor to strike a balance between privacy, profitability and security. But this is supposed to be a service for the public, and our privacy can't be moved to the bottom of the priority list.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/10/EDGDOIJKE11.DTL