Om Malik at GigaOM just posted about new software from FON that turns a Mac (Intel-based machines) or a Linux computer (preferably Ubuntu-based) into a FON spot.
FON is a share-your-Wi-Fi service company that announced a deal with Time Warner Cable earlier this week. Om goes on to discuss what you can and cannot share, and some alternatives to FON including Whisher, which launched at DEMO, and others.
The issue this raises for me, though, is whether you should be allowed to share your Wi-Fi connection with whomever you please. Copyright laws currently prevent bars, for example, from showing a pay-per-view boxing match on a bunch of TVs without paying special (and exorbitant) fees, even if there’s no cover charge at that bar. But I can invite a bunch of friends over to my house to watch the same boxing match
, and HBO probably isn’t going to send the lawyers.
People aren’t charging for FON spots (that I know). Does it relate to scale, then? Does Wi-Fi sharing only become and issue when I have a connection powerful enough to rival, say, a T-Mobile Hot Spot? Or should I be able to share my legally purchased internet connection with whomever I please?
Posted by humpty on August 6, 2009 at 7:28 pm
The question is wether the viewing is ‘private’ or ‘public’.
And then how many people constitutes to being ‘public’ ?