It would hurt the rip off 3G companies, as well as local WiFi hot spots like starbucks by not bringing in customers. But on the other hand, they wouldn’t have to pay for internet that they supply their customers, so it would balance out. Plus, are you really that worried about these places hurting because of free internet?

The problem I see with this is that bums are going to hog all of the bandwidth up by using it at their house. It should be provided as a temporary, mobile service. You know, internet on the go. Implementing a one-hour-use-one-hour-ban policy or similar would help this out. Or something like throttling down by the hour when used, and lowering the restriction by the hour not used, this way people could use it at home without impeding the internet speed of users who pay for internet at home, and use this service only on the go. Maybe a per-user bandwidth cap, like some regular ISP’s. The possibilities are endless. But if a free public internet service can provide enough bandwidth to go around, then by all means, allow it to be used anywhere.

Security would be a problem. Encryption FTW! If not feasible, just use it responsibly. Don’t check your E-Mail, buy online, and for the love of god DON’T PAY BILLS on a public internet service!

Bottom line: great idea!

This plan is the same as saying that the Government is going to build all of us free vacation houses in Florida (or on the moon, for that matter) It’s the pie-in-the-sky, chicken in every pot, new car in every garage kind of vague promise that politicians like to make, but will never and can never keep.