Welcome to Wi-Fi-Ville

(3 of 3)

Even free municipal wi-fi has one price that some find too steep: loss of privacy. Users aren't always comfortable knowing a government-run operation can track their searches for advertising or limit their access to websites. Culver City, Calif., and Adel, Ga., use software to prevent people from surfing porn and downloading copyrighted material. "I made a decision we shouldn't be spending taxpayer dollars on this," says John Richo, Culver City's information-technology director. Users must agree to "limited" Internet access and waive First Amendment claims arising from the city's decision to block sites. Civil-liberties groups are worried that governments may still be practicing content-based discrimination, a First Amendment violation, since filters often overreach and block perfectly legal material. "I think the Supreme Court would look skeptically at this approach," says John Morris, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

But like other questions that municipal wi-fi raises, it will be money, politics and even dog bites that ultimately will determine the answers. •