Boston Bans Boing Boing From City Wi-Fi 215
DrFlounder writes "The city of Boston has apparently blocked access to Boing Boing on the municipal Wi-Fi. This is possibly due to the popular blog's known Mooninite sympathies." Update: 4/22 13:11 GMT by KD : Seth Finkelstein did some research and posted an explanation of the blockage to his blog. "'Arbitrary and capricious' seems the relevant characterization."
Typical behavior for (Score:2, Interesting)
How's that dig thing coming along mayor? Oh, let me guess, straight info on the dig will be blocked next for policy violation?
Re:Meh.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Lawsuit Time (Score:3, Interesting)
With enough money and proper coordination, a lawsuit might be the right idea. A sufficiently large legal LART could prevent municipal ISPs from implementing global filtering at all. In this case though, I doubt anyone's in the position to do that correctly.
Re:The ISPs were right all along (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh please, as if any of the big companies were going to do it.
Besides, an uncensored internet connection isn't "only a bit better" for a lot of people, so there will still be plenty of grounds for other companies to compete, of course, that would require them to offer full wireless internet access too, none of this "well, you can use the web a little bit, and our email, but if you do anything else, we drop you" bullshit. Maybe if they spent their money on developing services instead of canceling rollouts to blow the cash buying other companies and stuff politicians' pockets and run marketing campaigns about how terrible this all is, they'd be able to compete.
No municipal Wi-Fi, no corporate business Wi-Fi (Score:5, Interesting)
Wireless internet should be provided by mesh networks, with perhaps non-profit associations renting or buying fat pipe for backbone. Do it the bad way, and the gubmint or Rupert Murdock or Clear Channel start telling us who's not to have access this week.
Re:The ISPs were right all along (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The ISPs were right all along (Score:3, Interesting)
Menino has been in office roughly forever, in large part because nobody else really wants the job. That is, nobody who's not far more inflammatory to some major part of the populace. "Mumbles" Menino is everyman's mayor, the none-too-bright neighbor who you know means well, and won't do anything really outrageous, while things basically take care of themselves.
The muni wi-fi network probably has very few users anyway. It's rather new and I don't think it covers the whole city. Cable modems are well established and there's some DSL already. Boing Boing's audience probably isn't the muni's. When I'm in Boston neighborhoods looking for WiFi, I've never seen it, though I've never had trouble finding an open Netgear or Linksys.
Re:censorship (Score:1, Interesting)
Puritans were so repressive that they did not celebrate holidays. (One of the great American myths is that the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving. To the contrary, the local Native Americans essentially forced them to have a giant feast in order to cement their alliance. And we all know how well the Puritans kept that alliance...) They repressed colorful dress, they repressed games, they repressed just about anything that wasn't worship.
The idea that despite all that repression that they'd allow sex is just ridiculous and requires some form of evidence.
Calling the Puritans progressive is a joke. They were reactionary, to the point that they were trying to move the clock back to before the Catholic Church was formed.
Re:The ISPs were right all along (Score:4, Interesting)
And what if the majority of the citizens of Boston really do hate the blocked site(s)? Then those, who want to access it, are screwed by the same flaw of Democracy, that killed Socrates... And even if citizens of Boston do wise up and force the block to be removed, tell me, what's easier — organize the citizens to protest and petition the government, or switch to a competing service provider?
Municipal WiFi was and remains a profoundly stupid idea, because it effectively blocks the competition through government subsidy. At least, with roads and other infrastructure it could be argued, that we can't have competing ones simply due to the lack of space (although Tokyo manages to have competing subway lines, somehow). But WiFi networks? Please — can put 10 different access point on the same pole...
The illiberal Socialist Boston is showing us all the worst of it. The supposed market failure [wikipedia.org] was used to justify government's encroaching into an area, where it should not be allowed. You — the fans of "Municipal WiFi" — have made this bed. Now sleep in it.
Re:Start with Smartfilter! (Score:1, Interesting)
Yet another example of Democrats censoring things they don't like.