TechConnect City Hearing Fri May 19th 2pm PST
The main topics will be Privacy and Digital Inclusion.
Privacy - includes library-like privacy for people who are undocumented migrant workers, those without credit cards (required for usage), members of unpopular political groups.
Digital Inclusion - includes training and computers for those who need it, coverage that meets the RFP requirements of 95% outdoor / 90% indoor and at real-world bandwidth speeds (not something slightly over dial-up 300k currently offered).
Agenda is here:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/lafco_page.asp?id=38962
If you cannot attend in person - you may watch cable channel 26 or live video streaming at http://sfgov.org/site/sfgtv_index.asp?id=11463 (select SFGTV)
There will be an IRC online chatroom setup at:
ernesto.indymedia.org
chatroom #techconnect
you can use the chat client here: http://chat.indymedia.org/
ACLU, EFF and EPIC have sent four letters to San Francisco - advocating for Municipal WiFi with privacy protections - I believe that they have received no response from the city and it appears that the RFP and other aspects of the TechConnect initiative have largely not addressed the issues they have persistently raised.
read the 4 letters here:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/internet/sfws41906.html
San Francisco Chronicle editorial 5/10/06 "Hidden cost of 'free' wireless"
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/10/EDGDOIJKE11.DTL