Always with the negativity. Sheesh. Here is the cliff notes version of the referenced article:
Complaint: Can't find free wireless
Observation: Criminals abuse open wireless networks
Observation: Fewer and fewer networks
Ask: "We" want to reverse trend, encouraging 'free' networks
Ask: Give common carrier protection to someone who opens a wireless network.
Whine: It sucks not to be able to get online.
Strawman #1: Perhaps people want to prioritize their traffic over the freeloaders
Occam's Razor Says: No, the simpler argument is they pay for it and don't want to give it away)
Strawman #2: If a hacker wanted to they could break into your network so you don't buy much
by securing it.
Occam's Razor Says: Locking your front door doesn't prevent breakins either but it does keep random strangers from scoping out what is inside your house.
Ask: No cost WiFi that protects the identity of the free loader
Fallacy: There is no protocol that allows anyone to join the network using link layer encryption.
Exception: Opening VPN connections using well established standards.
Strawman: Spectrum auctions were expensive, WiFi makes more efficient use of spectrum.
Exception: FCC just opened up a huge chunk of wide area spectrum for unlicensed use, aka 'white space' from the abandonded TV bands.
Ask: Join with us to whine about the lack of free wireless access points.
Since it isn't 'free' to provide a network connection, you have to make it economically viable. Economics being the force that allocates scarce resources (and network connectivity is once such resource). If you don't pay cash for a 3G connection (or an LTE connection or an EDGE connection) then you have to offer something else. I am really, really tired of hearing people refer to the Internet as "the commons" (as in the original Boston sense and with 'Tragedy of' in the conversation) since the network has never been a 'commons' in any sense of the word or concept. That you grew up and didn't understand who was paying for it and why and got mislead into believing it was 'free' is fine, but don't persist in that mis-information or you might find yourself talking about how all the strangers sleeping in your parent's living room is a 'tragedy of the commons' when its just squatting on your parents property. Its not a 'tragedy of the commons' when there are rolling blackouts because there isn't enough power generating capacity or typhoid because there is an open sewer running by your house. The author wants a world wide, cryptographically secure, communications network that anyone can access for free. Its a pony request [1].
Complaint: Can't find free wireless
Observation: Criminals abuse open wireless networks
Observation: Fewer and fewer networks
Ask: "We" want to reverse trend, encouraging 'free' networks
Ask: Give common carrier protection to someone who opens a wireless network.
Whine: It sucks not to be able to get online.
Strawman #1: Perhaps people want to prioritize their traffic over the freeloaders
Occam's Razor Says: No, the simpler argument is they pay for it and don't want to give it away)
Strawman #2: If a hacker wanted to they could break into your network so you don't buy much by securing it.
Occam's Razor Says: Locking your front door doesn't prevent breakins either but it does keep random strangers from scoping out what is inside your house.
Ask: No cost WiFi that protects the identity of the free loader
Fallacy: There is no protocol that allows anyone to join the network using link layer encryption.
Exception: Opening VPN connections using well established standards.
Strawman: Spectrum auctions were expensive, WiFi makes more efficient use of spectrum.
Exception: FCC just opened up a huge chunk of wide area spectrum for unlicensed use, aka 'white space' from the abandonded TV bands.
Ask: Join with us to whine about the lack of free wireless access points.
Since it isn't 'free' to provide a network connection, you have to make it economically viable. Economics being the force that allocates scarce resources (and network connectivity is once such resource). If you don't pay cash for a 3G connection (or an LTE connection or an EDGE connection) then you have to offer something else. I am really, really tired of hearing people refer to the Internet as "the commons" (as in the original Boston sense and with 'Tragedy of' in the conversation) since the network has never been a 'commons' in any sense of the word or concept. That you grew up and didn't understand who was paying for it and why and got mislead into believing it was 'free' is fine, but don't persist in that mis-information or you might find yourself talking about how all the strangers sleeping in your parent's living room is a 'tragedy of the commons' when its just squatting on your parents property. Its not a 'tragedy of the commons' when there are rolling blackouts because there isn't enough power generating capacity or typhoid because there is an open sewer running by your house. The author wants a world wide, cryptographically secure, communications network that anyone can access for free. Its a pony request [1].
[1] http://i-want-a-pony.com/