London Gets Free WiFi Trial, With A View To Rolling Out In 2012

[engine]

London Gets Free WiFi Trial, With A View To Rolling Out In 2012 [bbc.co.uk]

Nokia has switched on a trial of a free wi-fi service in central London.

From today until the end of 2011, the public will be able to use the high-speed service in certain parts of the city courtesy of the phone firm.

If the two-month trial is deemed a success, the Finnish company plans to turn it into a fully fledged free wi-fi service early in 2012.

The initiative is one of many that will eventually see London dotted with hotspots offering free net browsing.

[Frank_Rizzo]

Nothing is free. In the middle of this will be a grubby advertising agency collating and selling browsing habits, physical locations.

You are not free if your movements are recorded; if your browsing is monitored; if the content you request is massaged to match the profile an entity has created of you.

[engine]

Frank_Rizzo, I'm sure that will be the case even if it's not a free service.

[sem4u]

I find it a bit ironic that Nokia are sponsoring this when most people will be using an Android or iphone handset. They really are pumping money into promoting their new phones at the moment.

[jimbanks]

Advertising funded free wifi is the way of the future. I'll happily sit through a 30 second pre-roll if it means I can get access to the internet.

I'm surprised hotels don't offer it as well, instead of charging a "resort fee" for wifi that only works in your room.

[Frank_Rizzo]

The problem is not the ads. The real problem is the profiling of you whilst you use free services.

If you are happy for your anonymous information to be collated, pieced together, and identified. If you are happy for the content to be served to you to be different to someone else because of your profile. If you are happy for major decisions in the future of your life to be made on the basis of what you did, read, watched, typed then that's your choice.

Unfortunately those who don't want that have no choice except switch off and unplug.