Fwd: NewsScan Daily, 27 August 2001 ("Above The Fold")

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>'PARASITIC GRID' COULD UNDERMINE WIRELESS REVENUES
>An underground movement is afoot to deploy free wireless access zones in
>urban areas, building on the increasing popularity of wi-fi or 802.11b
>technology -- a standard for wireless Ethernet that works on an unlicensed
>portion of the spectrum. The movement, dubbed the "parasitic grid" by some,
>is already thriving in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, British
>Columbia and London. The concept is based on community-minded volunteers,
>who offer other Internet users within a certain range -- say 300 feet -- a
>"free ride" on their wireless connections. The trend is not going unnoticed
>by the large wireless carriers in these cities. "We are aware of the free
>services springing up and are considering 802.11b wireless access as well,
>not in place of currently scheduled rollouts but as an adjunct," says an
>AT&T Wireless spokesman. Meanwhile, so-called "aggregators" have developed
>software that resides in the mobile device that can find any available
>network and connect the user to it, creating, in effect, metropolitan-wide
>free networks that may ultimately compete with fee-based wireless services.
>"It would even be able to say, 'Here is a list of the networks found' and
>indicate which are free and which charge a fee," says an official at a
>company that provides 802.11b services at hotels and airports. (InfoWorld 24
>Aug 2001)
>http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/08/24/010824hnfreewireless.xml

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