FCC Pushing Plan To Provide Free Wireless Ineternet Access Nationwide

This would be a mistake.

It appears the Federal Communications Commission is ready to move forward with a spectrum auction in 2009 that would require the winning bidder to provide a free wireless broadband tier to 50 percent of the United States in four years and 95 percent of the country within 10 years. . . .
Under Martin’s plan, the airwaves to be auctioned would include 25MHz in the 2,155 to 2,180MHz advanced wireless services band. The proposed network would support itself by advertising and offering faster speeds on pay tiers. The free tier of broadband services would be family friendly, with the FCC requiring the winning bidder to filter out pornography.

Free, national internet would likely drive a lot of ISP’s out of business. And those that remained would likely get more expensive by offering premium services above and beyond mere access to differentiate itself from the free service.
While the idea of being able to go anywhere with a laptop and pull in a signal is appealing, what would this cost the taxpayers? Do we really want to let the god-awful FCC get its sticky fingers on the internet? For years the FCC has been looking for an excuse to regulate internet access, and this “free” national wireless access may be their foot in the door.
Already, before this plan is even off the ground, they’re talking about making the internet “family friendly.” That means government bureaucrats deciding what is and is not appropriate for we, the public, to see. While to some extent that may not be all that objectionable (less Viagra spam isn’t going to hurt my feelings), what about internet forums like this one where users drop the occasional expletive? What about political forums in general? Will the FCC try to institute a “fairness doctrine” of the sort that was inflicted upon radio once up on a time?
Who knows. Do we want to take the chance?