WiFi advertising that follows you around

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060410/chester

Google's Wi-Fi Privacy Ploy
by JEFF CHESTER

[posted online on March 24, 2006]

The digital gold rush is on across America, as cities scramble to develop
free or low-cost Wi-Fi zones. These public on-ramps to the Internet are
designed to provide every citizen with a form of always-on, high-speed
Internet access--at the playground, in the office or at home--at low or no
cost. 

Dozens of communities large and small, in red states and blue, are either
planning or currently constructing Wi-Fi systems. Community leaders--from
Philadelphia; Houston; Columbia, South Carolina; and San Francisco, to name
a few--recognize that creating a citywide Wi-Fi zone is not only vital for
economic development and public safety but helps insure that Americans who
can't now afford digital communications on their own can also tap in to the
riches and convenience of the Internet. But there is no such thing as a free
digital lunch. 

Consumers and public officials should have no illusions that what is being
touted as a public benefit is also designed to spur the growth of a mobile
marketing ecosystem
<http://www.mmaglobal.com/modules/content/index.php?id=53> , an emerging
field of electronic commerce that is expected to generate huge revenues for
Google, Microsoft, AT&T and many others. Soon, wherever we wander, a
ubiquitous online environment will follow us with ads and information
dovetailed to our interests and our geographic location. 

Unless municipal leaders object, citizens and visitors will be subjected to
intensive data-mining of their web searches, e-mail messages and other
online activities are tracked, profiled and targeted. The inevitable
consequences are an erosion of online privacy, potential new threats of
surveillance by law enforcement agencies and private parties, and the
growing commercialization of culture. 

...

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