orgtheory.net

Alan

I'm traveling today, and have neither frame of mind to say anything truly interesting, nor anything truly interesting to say (though I like Brayden's comments about The Wealth of Networks; I've found it be a really interesting read, and it's informed some of the writing I'm doing this summer about online activism).

Having straightened out some severe logistical problems with my travel itinerary, I'm now safely ensconced in a pleather chair at Sky Harbor Airport, where I can take advantage of their public wifi. What really brings me here to post today is my small dissatisfaction with the service: All ports except those used for the web are disallowed on the Sky Harbor network. This means that I can't sync my files, get my mail through the normal route, chat with my l337 buddies on AIM, or play Bang! Howdy while I wait.

I'm thinking about the utility of such severely restricted service. One of my reactions is that this kind of restriction doesn't help anybody: It doesn't really offer security to Sky Harbor — after all, they're already giving away the service. But then I started to wonder if maybe all those first class types who would have been in position to demand something better already have something that beats wifi: Roaming wireless data service. They've already jumped to another level, leaving the rest of us behind, so they're not about to demand better service from the airport authority — and the rest of us are still left with a modestly useful utility, as long as our tools use the protocols that are allowed here. So maybe there's part of the rub about wealths of networks: Some of them just aren't all that useful, and it doesn't matter how innovative your tools or your users are if they can't get access and hook up.