Interesting People mailing list archives
Not all municipal connectivity is "good"
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 16:02:46 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com> Reply-To: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com> Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 15:12:18 -0500 To: <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: [IP] Not all municipal connectivity is "good" Dave, I imagine this distinction will be a challenge for a lot of municipal officials, especially if they aren't heavy Internet users. Municipal connectivity seems to be motivated as a form of public utility. Think about other public utilities. The city supplies drinking water, and it is responsible for making the water safe and maintaining the pressure in a certain range. Only the public utiltiy provides the content. In the past, cities had to grapple with whether they should flouridate the water, but they've never offered the public a choice of flouridated, nonflouridated, flavored, carbonated, sugar-sweetened, nonsugar-sweetened, etc either on their own or through a choice of providers. Electricity may have a nominal choice of providers, but that's just an accounting device to let you choose which company generates the power. It's all delivered through the same lines, with the same technical properties. The choice of providers doesn't let you select 50 vs 60 cycles or 220 vs 110 volts. Other utilities are similarly one size fits all, with the city responsible for safety and reliability. Internet connectivity is a very different beast. It's incumbent on the advocates to do some serious education about the differences. Mary ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Not all municipal connectivity is "good" David Farber (Mar 30)
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- Not all municipal connectivity is "good" David Farber (Mar 30)