Internet Access For All - Privacy for None

Longmont Power & Communications, the city-owned electric utility, is moving forward with a plan to provide wireless internet access throughout the entire city. This requires over 600 shoebox size transmitters, which will be mounted on utility poles. For a fee of about $20 a month, you'll be able to tap into the World Wide Web most everywhere in Longmont. MobilePro/Kite Networks is quietly hoping to have the service ready as soon as February 2007.
While the $2 million project isn't costing taxpayers anything in monetary terms, in the name of safety it will remove a bit on anonymity for those walking the streets. The city envisions having "wireless anti-vandalism cameras", which could now be placed virtually anywhere in town. We've seen how the federal government loves to keep an eye and ear on everything technology gives them access to, regardless of pesky "laws", and local officials are no less inclined to also maximize their snooping abilities.

Hello internet, goodbye privacy. Even people without computers in Longmont can feel safe knowing the internet will be watching them, instead of the other way around.