] Brewster Kahle wants to network San Francisco. All of it.

I've never actually met Kahle, but as time rolls on, he is becoming a personal hero of mine. History will see this man as an important visionary..

] It sounds like every broadband Internet service
] provider's fantasy, but it's maybe not as far-fetched as
] it seems. Over the last year or so, small, gray plastic
] boxes have begun appearing atop homes and businesses
] around San Francisco. Roof by roof, they're bringing
] Kahle's vision of ubiquitous wireless-network access
] closer to reality -- no telephone companies or cable
] providers required.

I wound up at two parties last night.. At the first one, I found myself in an interesting conversation with a guy named Bill who worked for the phone company.

We talked about asymmetric versus symmetric Internet connections for the home. We talked about the differences between centralized and decentralized systems. We talked about telecom law. We talked about natural monopolies. We talked about market conditions. Market conditions..

When has the phone company every really understood market conditions in reference to the Internet? Not that often. I think I really pissed the guy off, he just kinda got up and left after suggesting I find the bottle of wine.. I had to leave shortly after finding the wine.

Good conversation though.. I Hope I run into him again.

] "If I have data or resources in my house and somebody
] lives 50 feet away from me in their house and wants to
] be able to share data back and forth, it seems pretty silly
] that we both have to pay $50 a month for a DSL connection
] to be able to do that," says Pozar. "We should just be able
] to throw this virtual wire over our fence and be able to
] send data back and forth."

That's a market condition, right? At the very least, Open Spectrum and the ability to use it cheaply, is going to create a market condition or five. I'm not even going to try to claim I understand the ramifications of it all.. I hope the phone & cable companies don't either.

] As to the future, "we would just like to see this type of
] idea and technology copied, and matured, by many others,"
] says Kahle. "We don't see it as a large, centralized system.
] It's an idea toward making community networks operate
] at very high speeds that have distributed ownership. We'd
] just basically like to see bandwidth spread like a virus ... so
] it just builds on itself."

I've been thinking about Amateur Radio lately.

I never actually got my Ham license.. I learned (and since forgot) morse code, I was on the standard track to a novice license. At one point my father had a general license. As I understand it, that kept him out of Vietnam and in front of a radio in Gemany.. My father clearly saw value in that skill set, and was sure I had the opportunity to learn it..

Lurking.. The subject of lurking comes up often these days. That's what my radio days were. I had this very nice Icom short-wave receiver, and I was usually able to rig a pretty decent working antenna. I did not have a license, so I did not transmit. (Ok, I didn't have the gear on hand either or I probably would have..) CB radios, obviously, where all around and used frequently. Marine VHS-FM band, too.. And of course an array of Radio Shack scanners. The big book of frequencies.. Etc..

Its a well regarded fact that every Ham radio operator believes that at some point the Hams are going to save the world. I'm down with that Red Dawn vibe, believe me.

My radio lurking days ended when I got my first modem. We had a computer before a modem, and it played games. When we got a modem, all the radio gear (and the RC car stuff) started to get really dusty.. Eventually my parents even reclaimed the garage for the car.

As Pirate Cat Radio 87.9 fm (SF's very own pirate radio station) reminds us, we are in a state of war. At its core, it is a war of ideas, not location or economics.. People see different fronts and enemies in different places. Most of them are on the homefront. There are many who worry that efforts are underway to return us to the days of closed systems, a la the old Bell Phone you couldn't tinker with. At all costs, the infrastructure we depend on to communicate must be an open channel, in support of liberty and freedom. I've always personally believed that the core of the Ham/Hacker ethic is to take both personal and professional action to ensure that's the case. The battle for the American Mind starts with the channels that can reach it.

Do I think there is some mass conspiracy to control [blank]? The general answer is "no".. However there is this thing called Due Diligence, and the protection of freedom requires it. I feel the need to state that, because my ramblings can be read into the wrong way. The very wrong way. I worry about that sometimes..

Technology is the only peaceful revolution. I want the phone company and the cable company to tell me a few things about market conditions. And I want Brewster Kahle to tell me a few things about the freedom of information. I'm sure, I will still remain very, very, very confused..

Free Wireless Everywhere / Tech visionaries' new project mirrors roots of Internet