🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike Byrnes (mbyrnes@tpoint.net) wrote:

: No, I'm not talking about the "fibber" network.  I'm talking about
: the"Austin FreeNet" initiative that Sue Beckwith (a City employee) is
: devoting (apparently) full time to.  The Austin FreeNet is "designed" to
: provide free internet access to the "citizens" of Austin via some sort of
: undefined dial-up configuration.

Oh, Sue Beckwith.  I didn't recognize what you were referring to under 
the universal access tag.  I am sure Gene Crick will pontificate greatly 
when he returns from vacation, as he has had much more experience and 
contact with her than I have.  I've briefly met her once, and read a 
press release, but what I know is that she is working as a liaison from 
the City of Austin to make Internet access outlets available where they 
are not now.  Carver Library, in East Austin, is the first location I 
believe.


: I applaud the "City's" concern for the internet disenfranchised, but I
: think that taxpayer dollars could be better spent on higher proirity
: issues.  Right now there are plenty of internet providers with the will
: and competitive energy to make internet access avaliable to the citizens
: of Austin at a cheaper cost to taxpayers than a City-operated "free"
: service.

Were you at that meeting at La Madalein two, three months ago?  I opened 
a volley of questions from ISPs about the extent of providing free access 
to the Internet, and the general consensus in the room was that the 
project did not offer much of a threat in terms of competition.  These 
outlets are in places serving people who would not otherwise have access. 
Plus they are limited by having a 20 minute time limit.  The thinking was 
that people would look at the Net, get a sense of what it was, use it a 
bit, and then seek out a commercial ISP.

But I guess your point is whether this is something the City of Austin 
really needs to be doing, or whether the natural cycles of implementing 
technology will adequately address.  Or that perhaps Ms. Beckwith's
salary and skills as a librarian could be put to use some place else.

<shrugs shoulders>


--
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