A fine example of liberalism

A couple weeks ago I came across an article in "The Hill" that, at first, I just laughed it off and sent the link to a few of my friends to chuckle at. I realized today that even though it's been two weeks since I read the article, something about it still bothers me.

The title of the article is "Liberal advocacy groups push for free wireless Internet" and it opens up by explaining that ten advocacy groups have formed a "coalition" to push for free Wi-Fi networks. Of course, my first thoughts were that now my tax dollars would be going towards paying for Wi-Fi for people who don't want to pay for their own. But it's worse than that.

One of the activists went on to say, "We envision a world where sharing one's Internet connection is the norm." So they expect us to just open up our Wi-Fi networks.... He goes on to say, "A world of open wireless would encourage privacy". So, with this line of logic, opening all my doors and windows of my house would also encourage privacy. He continues on stating how this would, "benefit the public good, giving us network access whenever we need it." This would only benefit freeloaders and since when is network access needed? How did we ever survive before the days of Wi-Fi?

Then he really pours his heart into it; "The frustrating thing about wireless networks today is that they're everywhere -- there can be dozens of them bouncing around you at any given instant -- but you're locked out of almost all of them." No kidding! Because you didn't pay for them.

Let's take this a step further, shall we? Every day I see cars everywhere -- there can be dozens of them on the streets, hundreds of them in parking lots day or night -- but they are almost always locked up with no keys to be found. What if someone NEEDS to use one? Maybe someone should form a coalition with the belief that sharing one's car would be the norm.

This article is not written about one person's belief, this is a "coalition" formed from ten groups that could potentially have hundreds if not thousands of members who agree with this line of thinking.

Imagine if enough people believed this gibberish or they somehow managed to push legislation that would require everyone to share their internet, the eventual results would be a disaster. If you lived in an apartment house or even in town with other homes close by where other Wi-Fi signals are in range, many people would cancel their service until only one person per area or apartment building is buying the service. More people would be sharing fewer connections, causing connection speeds to slow way down and internet rates would have to go up due to the reduction of accounts.

The coalition admits that sharing a Wi-Fi connection exposes the account holder to legal liability but believes the risks are "overblown". Who's door do you think the authorities are going to knock on when they detect all kinds of illegal internet activity coming from your IP address? And how much will your legal fees be to clear your name? Good luck finding a liberal enough lawyer to do that for free.