A Stitch in Haste

Yet more proof that Wi-Fi Internet access is not a public good and should therefore not be provided by local governments:

Online search leader Google is preparing to launch a wireless Internet service, Google WiFi, according to several pages found on the company's Web site on Tuesday.
...
The Google Web site has several references to Google WiFi but provides few details. One page refers to a product called "Google Secure Access," which is designed to "establish a more secure connection while using Google WiFi."

A separate page offers a free download of Google Secure Access, carrying the headline: "Your wireless connection is almost ready to use."

Google declined to comment. The company has already launched a sponsored WiFi "hotspot" in San Francisco's Union Square district in April with a start-up called Feeva.

Which would you trust more for up-to-date, reliable, secure wi-fi access: Google or your local hack bureaucrats? And who should pay for wi-fi access: the people who actually use it (i.e., Google users, customers and advertisers), or the people who don't (i.e., taxpayers)?

More thoughts at Truck and Barter.