Good news for municipal wifi

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm an avid SlashDot reader. A post from today:

"The effort to ban municipal networks in Texas has failed. Texas House Bill 789 originally had provisions to ban muni wireless networks. The Senate passed a significantly rewritten version, without a ban. A conference committee failed to reach agreement, so the bill died when the Texas legislature adjourned this weekend."

The capacity for towns and cities to offer free or cheap wireless internet access is a part of that public ownership concept that I posted about a week ago. And it's a very, very important part of it.

*gets out crystal ball*

I forsee the next great WPA-style public works project being an informational one, where net access becomes an essential utility, like telephone service and plumbing. I believe it will be especially important for our rural communities to survive as desirable places to live.

*puts away crystal ball*

Not to mention that an all-business internet access model doesn't do much to keep the internet the great, open ideaspace that it is. We need that now more than ever!

Read more about the Texas Bill at savemuniwireless.org.