Big News in Boston

Today's Boston Globe reports on Boston's plan to offer city-wide wi-fi: 

Boston will tap a nonprofit corporation to blanket the city with ``open access" wireless Internet connections, under a plan to be unveiled today by Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The plan, which envisions raising $16 million to $20 million from local businesses and foundations, is a striking departure from the business models used by other cities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco, which have turned over responsibility for their wireless data networks to outside companies such as Earthlink Inc. and Google Inc. By empowering an independent organization to own and operate the city's WiFi, or wireless fidelity, network, Boston is hoping to keep control of the technology deployment and use it to spur innovation, improve city services, and extend wireless Internet access into low-income neighborhoods across the so-called digital divide....

Curious about what inspired this decision? Click here to read through the Boston Wireless Task Force proposal for Mayor Menino.

Spring semester Clinical Professor of Law and Berkman's Executive Director John Palfrey organized a debate on Philadelphia's public wi-fi experiment among his students.  To see what his students had to say, check out the class wiki  where his students detail the pros and cons.

What does Palfrey have to say about Boston's decision? "Boston -- the Hub of the Universe -- has been running far behind in the municipal wifi race until today.  It's not just Philadelphia and San Francisco that have been setting the pace, but also places like Tallinn, Estonia.   The plan that Mayor Menino's task force has come up with is another in the series of interesting experiments that major urban areas have undertaken in the past year.  The success of this experiment will hinge upon both how access providers and how citizens respond to the plan.  Boston should always strive to live up to its history as the City on a Hill.  It may well be that this municipal wifi policy can get our hometown back onto that high ground."

If you'd like to discuss Boston's news with Berkman's faculty and fellows, please contact Amanda at amichel AT cyber.harvard.edu or call (617) 384-9100.