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Rural Oregon Leads the Way for Large-Scale WiFi 113
atkulp writes "While cities and incumbent telecommunications operators are fighting it out over municipal WiFi, it looks like rural Oregan is leading the way for large-scale deployments of WiFi and WiMax." The privately funded $5 million dollar wireless network services a modest 700 square miles and seems to be the only show in town.
Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays? (Score:4, Interesting)
Doesn't anyone care that our politicians accept bribes (aka; campaign donations) to pass laws that are against the interest public interest (ie; the people the politicians are supposed to represent)?
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:4, Insightful)
The case in point: a law maker makes a law in return for campaign contributions. The law maker would not have made the law without the contributions. The contributor would not have contributed without getting the law.
That is bribery.
HTH
Bribes have always been accepted practice (Score:3, Interesting)
So is the entire plea bargaining process in our judicial system
The general figure that is thrown around is that 90% of cases are settled through plea bargains.
There have been court cases [pbs.org] which have called 'leniancy' and 'plea bargains' as the bribery that they are, but if those decisions were allowed to stand, the criminal justice system would grind to a halt under the caseload.
here's some guy's book/rant, [64.233.187.104] where he brings up the topic of total immunity. Pretty much the ultimate bribe: We'll
Re:Bribes have always been accepted practice (Score:2)
That is debatable. That is the claim to support those decisions but I would counter that those plea bargains are precisely WHY the system is practically ground to a halt as it is. Lets look at a simple crime like petty theft. The overhead of a murder trial is greater but there are relatively few murder trials and most would agree that it is even more important not to allow plea bargains for m
Re:Bribes have always been accepted practice (Score:1)
Bribery or extortion? (Score:1)
Now, what if campaign contributions aren't bribes? What if they are extortion payments? Make this payment or we won't protect you.
Case in point: Microsoft.
Microsoft did very little lobbying and gave very little campaign cash. And then DoJ came after them. I am not of fan of what they did. I believe the DoJ was justified to come after them. But I'm pretty sure t
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:5, Interesting)
Bribe:
Any money, goods, right in action, property, thing of value, or any promise or undertaking to give any, asked, given, or accepted, with a corrupt intent to induce or influence action, vote, or opinion of person in any public or official capacity.
abbreviated, that would be:
Any money given with intent to influence action of a person in any public or official capacity.
Given the legal definition of a bribe, I'd say that any incident where a politician accepts campaign contributions from a lobbyist and changes stance on any particular issue or votes favorably towards the cause of the lobbyist should be suspect.
Re:Don't paraphrase that definition (Score:2)
Now, I don't want this to sound too one-sided, so I think it's impor
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:3, Interesting)
Small scale? (Score:2)
Small scale? Were you referring to the network that the story is about? I guess it depends on how you define "small".
Coverage of this 'small' network in Oregon: 700 square miles.
Area of city of Los Angeles [city-data.com]: 469.1 square miles.
P.S.: For those keeping track, this story is a dupe [slashdot.org].
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2, Troll)
Speaking as a Euroweenie, it always amazes me how blind many Americans are to the corruption in their system. I find you get one of three responses:
1) Everything is transparent, so its all ok.
2) It's not illegal, and so it must be ok.
3) You're a European and everyone knows Europe is more corrupt than the USA so
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:5, Insightful)
I think it's more like: "Stop talking politics! What happened on Big Brother last weekend. OMG look what the girl is wearing!? Fat people SHOULD NOT be wearing Abercrombie and Fitch!?!" Wow. (Sorry, OT rant...) (Most) Americans are elusive and close-minded when it comes to politics. We have the big guys patting us on the head saying, "Everything will be ok. Don't think. Don't question. Go about your regular daily routine and everything will be fine." I met a 26 year old last night that said, "The President will pass the law for Christians. He can do anything!" My response: "No, he is not a dictator. Bills must be passed through the H.O.R and the Senate first." Her response: "Who are they!?!?" She could probably tell me Tom Cruise's foot size and what Jennifer Aniston had for breakfast on the second Monday in August though... Anyways, it looks like its starting to hit the fan finally with Rove, DeLay, Brown and all these other morons. About time. I thought the checks and balances system was done for. These people need to be strung up, cause the little guys are always footing the bill. (Now if I could just figure out a way to get high-speed from a non-conglomerate...) BTW, I'm from Dayton, OH--I think it was more like 45 degrees this weekend Alex...!
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
*Tin Foil Hat*
This supposed 'rural' area of Oregon is home to a huge US military dump of chemical nerve agents. -- over 7.4 million pounds. [dailywireless.org] It is also conveniently located next to the Columbia river and has access to two major interstates and several railway lines [google.com] that intersect next to the dump.
Now (surprise surprise) there is a huge broad band infrastructure there as well. I'm thinking they didn't do this all for the onion farmers.
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:5, Interesting)
Time they applied this to themselves.
Equal funding of ALL political parties. Equal media access to ALL political parties. People implicated in bribery get charged with treason.
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:1)
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
Just need to get the for-profit Corps. out (Score:2)
I think his poi
The cure for bad speech is more speech. (Score:2)
We should not be interested in stifling the speech of people who hold views we don't like. Let them air their views and be torn down by well-constructed logical arguments to the contrary.
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
Who knows?
How should people feel?
They should on the one hand feel disgusted that parties such as the Nazi party or the Republican party exist, but they should feel a hell of a lot of comfort that the Nazi, Republican parties, and friends are now to open their campaign funding books to the public, so we can all see what's going on. It's either that, or let them do deals behind closed doors.
As I replied to another poster in this thread, you mightn't like the Nazi party, but achieving
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:3, Insightful)
Do we really give the same amount to every party (wasting my tax dollars on everybody from the Socialists to the Reform party) or do we give more money to the more popular parties (thus writing the current Republicrat party oligarchy into law)? It sounds like you're in favor of the former - what prevents me from starting my own "Ilikemoneycrat" party tomorrow? It would be great to r
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
Democracy requires freedom of information. You can't put a limit on which information is available and which information is inaccessible. Even if you think that one particular point of view is invalid, a waste of time / money, or positively evil, it is our responsibility to each other to make sure that that point of view is accessible as any other. Otherwise what you get is a leading ideology hogging all the media, conversation
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:3, Insightful)
There is no way to make representation in any way equal for every candidate. That's why we should spend our time and energy making voters more educated and reasonable. That will minimize the advantage billion dollar campaigns have, as well as decrease the likelihood that companies can bribe officials and avoid hav
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
The media has been proven to be biased, it's not just an accusation. When the vast majority of what they report is negative about 1 candidate and positive about another it's a clear case of bias.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/graham20041 1 040834.asp [nationalreview.com]
The news media is more than welcome to report on candidate
Re:Political bribes / Other wireless initiatives (Score:2)
http://www.communitynet.ca/ [communitynet.ca]
http://www.sasktel.com/about_sasktel/news_room/200 4_news_releases/sasktel_announces_communitynet_dep loyment_schedule.html [sasktel.com]
Are two links that are on topic to a provincial government/corporation providing access to wireless internet o
The U.S. government is very corrupt. (Score:3, Informative)
The U.S. government is very violent: History surrounding the U.S. war with Iraq: Four short stories [futurepower.net]. The violent way is preferred because it is more profitable: Ike Was Right About War Machine [informatio...house.info]. ("Ike" is former President of the U.S. and former
Re:The U.S. government is very corrupt. (Score:3)
I mean I'm glad you're aware of some of the nonsense that's going on, but making vauge blanket statements with little proof (I don't consider Andy Rooney & what appears to be your website which lists Michel Moore as a reference to be authoratative sources) and no suggestions on how to imporove the situation is rather unhelpful, not to mention offtopic, isn't it?
I'm guessing: You have done no reading. (Score:2)
Re:I'm guessing: You have done no reading. (Score:2)
Well, it's a rather poor guess. I've done a lot of reading. I do my best to get a variety of sources in there, but most of my mornings are spent on the NY Times, BBC and Wikipedia over coffee. But reading changes nothing, so I try to stay active as much as I can. It's a little frustrating watching Florida and Ohio decide our future when I live in a hard blue state
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
"Similar wireless projects have been stymied in major metropolitan areas by telephone and cable TV companies, which have poured money into legislative bills aimed at discouraging such competition."
Perhaps the telephone and cable companies "poured money" into hiring an army of lobbies, who kept much o
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
I think the truth is somewhat less binary than that. Politicians, to my observation, will generally give the time of day to the two entities you listed, plus anyone who can conceivably help advance some agenda dear to their hearts. This agenda need not be, and rarely is, limited to retaining votes or garnering compaign contributions. Unfortunately, it is more commonly a hidden agenda, and any congruence to the
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
Obviously the telecom companies don't sell their viewpoints as being "against the public interest".
Creating an environment where only private companies may provide internet service is not against the public interest. It "supports local economies". It "minimizes government intrustion into private matters". It
Re:Political bribes are accepted practice nowadays (Score:2)
This assumes that taxing everyone to provide "free" wireless internet to everyone who wants it is in the public interest.
I don't believe that taxing everyone to pay for "free" cable tv for everyone who wants it is in the public interest; nor is taxing everyone to pay for "free" DSL for everyone who wants it. I
Where is the rural California? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Where is the rural California? (Score:1)
Re:Where is the rural California? (Score:1)
Surveillance? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Surveillance? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Surveillance? (Score:2)
Re:Surveillance? (Score:1)
Re:Surveillance? (Score:2, Informative)
$5 million dollar wireless network? (Score:4, Funny)
Oregan? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oregan? (Score:1)
Re:Oregan? (Score:2, Insightful)
Orygun (Score:2)
Re:Orygun (Score:2)
In that case, shouldn't it be "Oregun"?
Or maybe just "Orgun".
Re:Oregan? (Score:2)
Re:Oregan? (Score:1)
Re:Oregan? (Score:1)
security of WiFi/WiMax (DoS potentials) (Score:4, Interesting)
Yay Oregon!
-IDkrysez
it's worse than that (Score:1)
Imagine the goatse implications of that. Think of the children!
GOOD! (Score:5, Funny)
Dp[wifi] = n/(1/2pU^2A*Re)t^S
where S stands for stupidity factor, and n is the number of telecoms, p ~ politicians, U ~ potential userbase factor, A ~ land area/size, Re ~ Retardation number, and t ~ reasonable time expectation
Re:GOOD! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:GOOD! (Score:1)
Um, no they dont. (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe for a privately owned pay for use, but not for existing wireless coverage.
and the funny part is the community wireless projects are done without wimax. 802.11 point to point works very well.
Re:Um, no they dont. (Score:3, Interesting)
You're saying that Seattle Wireless has over 700 square miles of coverage? I find that pretty hard to believe.
Re:Um, no they dont. (Score:4, Interesting)
It is really easy to gain square miles of coverage. remember 2 square miles is a very small amount of land area and can be covered quite easily. espically if you pick and choose covering spots that matter. (the oil/gas trasnfer station and train yard do not need wireless coverage, the park and residential areas do.)
Re:Um, no they dont. (Score:1)
the Tragedy of the Commons issue... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah this brings us back to Bill Gates quotes paralleling my pr0n res hypothetical to be good enough to suit us (like the 640KB did), but, I mean, c'mon, won't that video quality suffice?
The answer is yes, until the market fully adopts 3D holograph pr0n that will require some more zeros and ones.
I mean, c'mon.
Re:the Tragedy of the Commons issue... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the Tragedy of the Commons issue... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:the Tragedy of the Commons issue... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:the Tragedy of the Commons issue... (Score:1)
Re:the Tragedy of the Commons issue... (Score:2)
How much weed did you smoke before posting?
This is really really really good news. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This is really really really good news. (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah... yet they still have to keep a perp on the line at least 3 minutes to trace the call :^/
Re:This is really really really good news. (Score:2)
Well, at least it gives the Good Cop enough time to load his musket...
I wonder if.... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I wonder if.... (Score:2, Funny)
The Borg are always so angry because they are still waiting for Duke Nukem Forever to come out as well, Star Fleet obviously prefer RTS games. And the Borg use Vim. And Star Fleet use Emacs. And the Borg run BSD....
Re:I wonder if.... (Score:1, Offtopic)
In other news, Netcraft confirms that the Borg are dead.
(sorry - couldn't resist. I promise I won't do it again.)
Interesting (Score:3, Interesting)
This county also blocked a coal-burning power plant, so the people who wanted it moved it 2 miles, just across the county line, and got it built.
And blocked a landfill in a remote section of the county.
I'm not sure that a project like this would face such opposition, especially if the towers could also provide cell phone service (which is also very poor in the county). I know that everyone I talk to that can't currently get high-speed internet is always saying "oh there has got to be a way!" especially considering that the phone lines in much of the county are so old that connections above 28.8kbps (that's a 3K transfer rate) are rare.
I have heard that the school system wants to do something like this, but I know the admin who thought it up, and I don't really want to use something he runs. I heard something about "free but filtered" and I almost said "don't bother" right then and there.
Politics and big business (Score:5, Interesting)
Coincidence...? (Score:2, Funny)
So, 2 years ago an Iranian immigrant comes to this tiny rural county with an idea to set up a wireless network that would allow all sorts of surveillance of any transactions or other data sent over it by those that set it up. Oh, and by the way, this tiny rural county that has this Iranian immigrant creating a wireless network that is privately funded (yet they never mention who exactly is funding it except to say that it was at Ziari's expense) just happens to have one of the largest stockpiles of chemica
So does this mean... (Score:2, Funny)
Cool...WiFi broadcasts of the live sex shows (Score:1)
But is the WIFI network safe/secure? (Score:2)
Nothing in this article mentions safety or security, and the question must be asked:
How safe is this network? Can anyone intercept data running through it? What happens if your data is stolen because of it?
Just a thought.
WIFI security article from SFGate (Score:2)
Article about WIFI security in the SF area.
Re:But is the WIFI network safe/secure? (Score:1)
Hold the champagne, we're not there yet. (Score:1)
The high desert around Hermiston also happens to be the home of one of the nation's largest stockpiles of Cold War-era chemical weapons. Under federal guidelines, local government officials were required to devise an emergency evacuation plan for the accidental release of nerve and mustard agents.
This would not have happened if not for the weapons incinerator [oregontoxics.org] in Hermiston. For anything other than emergency alerts, there just wasn't demand. So don't go thinking your podunk town in Iowa will have a wif
Awesome coverage (Score:2)
"Rural Oregon", now that's a redundancy in terms.
Umatilla Ordinance Depot (Score:1)