The economic viability of communities has always been related to energy and communication links whether by sea, road, rail, air, the grid, newspaper, telegraph, telephone, radio, television, computer and now in the Information Age - the Internet.
Cities already recognize broadband as perhaps the single most important factor in transforming their local economies and the lives of average citizens but at what political cost do they gamble their integrity to ensure their citizens don't get left in a technological dark-age. Some municipalities will have a real dilemma in adapting to emerging technologies because of past contractual obligations made with present technological monopolies.
It’s a ‘Catch 22’ for municipalities but when they get wind of this technology they will have the solution they have been looking for because the monopoly issue will be resolved democratically.
It will be settled by the people themselves as they realize the Internet really belongs to them - as they discover the mechanism whereby they may repossess it.
Municipalities will discover the High Speed Internet they seek is evolving around them through the entrepreneurial dynamic between this WiFi Corporation and citizen end-user.
Any contractual obligations the municipalities are under simply will not be renewed.
And who's going to stop them in a democratic society?
The article "Let There Be Wi-Fi" written by Robert W. McChesney and John Podesta and published by the Washington Monthly provides an insightful assessment of the survival instincts of local communities to be part of the 21st century global communications community
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