As we all know, it's been a rough go for New Orleans over
the last seven months. It's going to take a lot of time and effort to bring the city back to something close to what it
was, and it's going to take the cooperation of many people to do it. However, BellSouth and other telcos in the region
only want to be part of the problem, not the solution.
The issue is the fact that the City of New Orleans has opened its downtown wireless mesh network to anyone in the area for free. Originally, it was used as a link to surveillance cameras in an effort to stop crime. Nowadays, the city's CIO says the network is helping downtown businesses get back on track with this means of communications, as well as those residents who still don't have phone service.
In addition, the city is looking to expand the service across the entire city and has reportedly spoken to vendors about the possibility. However, it seems that BellSouth and other telcos are lobbying to shut down the network, and may be going to court to do so.
What a revolting development this is! How dare these telcos step in and stop this effort to establish communications for New Orleans which has suffered so much! The city in effect was totally destroyed, and it basically has to start from scratch to rebuild. But all these companies care about is making sure they get their monopolies back again as soon as possible. They don't care that many people lost everything and that the city needs to establish some sort of communications network so that the local government, businesses, and residents can talk to each other on some level.
It may be naive to think this way, but these companies ought to be ashamed of themselves. Let New Orleans do what they need to do. This is a one-of-a-kind situation and the city must be given every chance to get back on its feet in whichever fashion they choose and not be dictated by outsiders seeking to regain their piece of the pie. There will be plenty of opportunities for them to get back and offer their services to residents once "normalcy" is estabished. Until then, they should keep their mouths shut.
1. You know, I agree that the telcos should keep their hands off this wireless network, but this article is crap. It's almost completely devoid of facts, and all but pure emotional rabble rousing. It manages to completely avoid the real root of the problem which is, according to the article linked, that the state has a law that makes what New Orleans is doing illegal. It's a horrible monopolistic law, but it's a law. The telcos clearly wrote the law, but the legislature passed it, and the legislature can repeal it. Why haven't they?
Of course it's cooler to pick on the The Phone Company than the legislature that gave the telcos the law. The telcos are within their rights, and honestly, their fiduciary responsibility to shut down illegal networks.
So get out there and change the law. Whining about the sliminess of corporations isn't going to make the New Orleans mesh legal.
Posted at 1:05AM on Mar 23rd 2006 by spoggle