Unwiring Vancouver, one block at a time

Remember Terry Gilliam's Brazil? Remember Robert de Niro's character? In a dystopian society where nothing works because of a callous authoritarian government, he's a renegade heating engineer who's called a terrorist because he actually makes things work.

Nearly two months into the civic strike, community centres closed, garbage accumulating, and half the city torn up by construction, Vancouver could use a good visit from Archibald "Call me Harry" Tuttle. For instance, take the fabled promise of covering the city with free wireless Internet access through your laptop or PDA. On Valentine's Day, 2006, city councilors Peter Ladner and Heather Deal argued over who came up with the idea first, but everyone was in agreement that it was a good idea for the city. And what has happened since then?

Not much, at least from our city hall. Just as in many other cities, municipal wifi plans have been bogged down in part because of resistance by local incumbent cablecos and telcos, not to mention Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt statements from the Vancouver police about people using wifi for illegal communications. (Ever hear of pay phones?)

One of the most interesting things about mesh wifi coverage is that it can start as small as a cafe, restaurant, office or home and scale up until it covers an entire neighborhood, and the capital and technical expertise required is modest. Local techies, including people affiliated with the BC Wireless Network Society, Raincity Studios and Bryght, plan to do just that: build a network that covers Gastown and provides free, decent Internet access for business and personal use. And they're not asking anybody "mother may I?" of anybody, government or corporate.

In a city choking on urban projects that the people may not want or need, it's good to see people building something they want.