Posted on 10/07/2005 10:00:04 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
S.F. mayor sees wireless service as basic right
By Eric Auchard
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who became internationally known for his campaign a year ago to legalize gay marriage, said on Monday he considered wireless Internet access a fundamental right of all citizens.
Newsom told a news conference that he was bracing for a battle with telephone and cable interests, along with state and U.S. regulators, whom he said were looking to derail a campaign by cities to offer free or low-cost municipal Wi-Fi services.
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"This is inevitable -- Wi-Fi. It is long overdue," Newsom told a news conference at San Francisco's City Hall. "It is to me a fundamental right to have access universally to information," he said.
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"CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE"
Wireless access can be seen a basic right that should be available not just to business professionals but also lower-income citizens. "This is a civil rights issue as much as anything else," Newsom said.
The mayor said he had no exact figures on how much it would cost to build a wireless umbrella to cover the entire city, but cited general estimates that have ranged from $8 million to $16 million for antennas and other gear.
"My intent is to have the taxpayers pay little or nothing," Newsom said of the municipal wireless project.
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1) Internet Access 2) Cable TV 3) Housing 4) Laundry 5) Vitamins 6) -- Anything you can think of here --
Free pizza delivery.
Wondrful...another civil right. Maybe we can live and breath this one into the Constitution too.
All fundmental rights provided by govenment are also to be regulated, controlled and taxed. This is what Newsom wants to do, regulate, control and tax the internet.
I want a pony.
Hot oil massage on demand from the hot babe of my choice,
the Red Sox to repeat as WS champs,
Bill and Hillary's secret home movies of them with poultry to be released onto the internet......
"the Red Sox to repeat as WS champs"
Dang straight!
aaaa...
You forgot "Immortality"...
He's from the Nagin School of Mayoring.
And Zell Miller And Chrissy Matthews actually having a duel.
jefferson, in his memoirs, actually wanted wireless internet service for all. im surprised he didnt just solve this debate and write it in the constitution.
You can't have a gun to defend yourself against all the street loonies in SF (at least, according to the mayor and all the "progressive" civil servants in SF), but wireless Internet access? Hey! It's in the Bill of Rights. It's a penumbra emanating from somewhere.
life, liberty and the pursuit of wireless
Breyer would agree, seeing as how Jefferson couldn't have forseen wireless internet.
It can be found in the emanations of the penumbras, for heaven's sake.
So does that mean I won't have to pay for it anymore? We have more rights then I ever imagined and I was already happy with the rights we had. Go figure.
You forgot ABS brakes, a cure for cancer....
Close. Actually it's life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and wireless 24/7 internet porn.
Let's not forget the Wi-Fi enabled laptop! Access will do you no good without a computer!
Mayor Newsom has some difficulties with the definitions of rights, powers, necessities, privileges, etc. I wonder if he favors free wine for winos' as a "right"?
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