Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
by Mike Langberg

10/19/05

Google's high-profile proposal to provide free wireless Internet access throughout San Francisco is all about the three rules of real estate: Location, location, location. Google wants to create a new kind of online advertising where its network knows your precise location and displays ads for businesses within just a few blocks of wherever you are. That's OK with me. Letting Google tout a deli around the corner seems like a fair trade for getting free WiFi service. But there's a Big Brother risk in the emerging category of 'location-based services' that isn't getting enough attention. Municipal WiFi networks, such as the one Google is proposing, could easily keep records on where users are connecting, and it's easy to imagine ways that information could be misused...

http://tinyurl.com/blqgn


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp