May 8, 2003

The Internet Wants to be Free

The New York Times has an interesting report today on how more and more retail establishments are using free wireless Internet access to attract customers.

"It remains to be seen how many users will be willing to pay the $30 a month being charged for Wi-Fi access at places like Starbucks, given the monthly communications fees many people already shoulder. In a growing number of places, an alternative is available - at no charge.

That's why the cable industry is pushing legislation written by the Motion Picture Association of America to give them the ultimate power – backed by civil liability and criminal penalties – to decide what devices you can hook to your cable outlet. The cable industry wants to make it illegal, and costly, for you to use a Wi-Fi device to use the cable broadband internet access signal you have already paid for on more than one PC in your home. There is no increased cost to the cable company if you use Wi-Fi to hook two or three computers to the Internet.

Cable Internet service is an "always on" service, so hooking two PCs to your cable modem via a Wi-Fi box affect the amount of usage. As for bandwidth, the typical home user's level of surfing and emailing are small and the increase that would come with having two PCs on the connection would be marginal. If I had two PCs hooked to my cable outlet instead of one, so my wife could send email from a PC on her desk in the kitchen while I used Google on my PC in my study, it wouldn't mean Comcast's network was carrying more email. It merely means my wife wouldn't have to wait until I was done in order to send her emails.

So why is the cable industry pushing legislation - like SB 213 and HB 457 in Tennessee - that would make it a crime to connect a Wi-Fi box to your cable outlet without their express authorization? Because they want you to pay them money for the authorization. They want you to pay them money for the right to more conveniently access and use service and capacity you have already paid them for. Period. That is why HB 457 and SB 213, currently pending in the Tennessee legislature, must be stopped. For more, go here and follow the links.